While You Were Sleeping
by ElvisRose
Summary: Merlin's life is lonely. That is until he saves Morgana Pendragon's life. Now he is a part of her family, and they begin to realize what a terrific person he is, especially Arthur, Morgana's brother. A bizarre turn of events take place as Merlin and Arthur become closer and learn more about each other and themselves at the same time. Based on the 1995 movie with Sandra Bullock


There are two things that Merlin remembered about his childhood. First, he remembered being with his dad. Balinor would get these far-off looks in his eye, and he would say, "Life doesn´t always turn out the way you plan" Merlin just wished that he had realized at the time, that Balinor was talking about his life. But that never stopped them from taking their adventures together. Balinor would pack up their sometimes-working car, and he would tell Merlin amazing stories about strange and exotic lands as they headed off to exciting destinations like...Milwaukee. It´s amazing how exotic Wisconsin... isn´t. But Merlin's favorite memories were the stories that Balinor would tell him about his mum. He would take Merlin to the church where they got married. Merlin would beg him to tell him more about the ceremony...and about his crazy Aunt Nim who fell asleep in the macaroni and cheese. And Merlin asked his dad when he knew that he truly loved his mum. And Balinor said to him, "Merlin, your mother…she gave me a special gift. She gave me the world." Actually it was a globe with a light in it. But for the romantic that he was, it might as well have been the world.

Well, the first time Merlin saw her, she didn´t exactly give him the world. It was an L-train token. But Merlin looked forward to it every single day. She started coming to Merlin's booth between 8:01 and 8:15 every morning, Monday through Friday. And she was just perfect. Merlin's princess charming. They've never actually spoken. But Merlin knows someday they will. He knows it. He just knows it. And he knows that someday he will find a way to introduce himself, and that´s gonna be perfect. Just like his princess. Truth was that this princess was only the second woman that Merlin had ever loved in his life, not counting his mother. Merlin was more…experienced…with men. He'd only had sex with one woman in his life and that relationship had ended…tumultuously. But he was sure that that wouldn't matter to his raven haired, green eyed princess.

XXX

"Forty-five dollars for a Christmas tree and they don´t deliver?" Merlin grumbled to himself as he hauled his Christmas tree up to his window. "You order ten dollars' worth of chow mein from Mr. Wong´s, they bring it to your door. Oh! Ooh, I should´ve gotten the blue spruce. They´re lighter." He grunted to Kilgharrah, his Abyssinian cat. "Aah! Ooh. Shit." He swore, the rope slipped through his hands, and he heard a crash down below.

"Merlin!" he winced, hearing his landlord yell, exasperated. Merlin sighed and headed down to his landlord Joe's apartment.

"Nature of claim: Christmas tree through window. H-How am I gonna put that on my insurance? They´re still pissed about the fire we had when Gwaine barbecued in the stairwell." his landlord sighed as he filled out the claim at his dining room table, tree sticking through his window.

"I missed that one." Merlin laughed and toyed with his giant sweater.

"Oh, great sausage." Joe winked at him, laughingly.

"Look, I-I´ll pay for this." Merlin offered pointing to the tree and window, with a sweater covered hand.

"That´s okay, Merlin. My brother Julie´s in the glass business."

"Oh...I almost forgot." Merlin smiled, fiddling with his overlong sweater and pulling out a small wrapped present. "Merry Christmas."

"Ah, Merlin. You, you didn´t have to do that." Joe blushed and accepted the gift.

"Well, I wanted to" Merlin shrugged and blushed. Joe was an older man with a bristly mustache and a kind heart. He had taken Merlin in when he was pretty much broke and Merlin would forever be grateful to him for that.

"I haven´t even gotten to my shopping yet." Joe laughed. Merlin smiled and shrugged slightly and watched as Gwaine swaggered in, half drunk, per usual. He was wearing a white, stained, wife beater and skinny jeans that could have belonged to a fifteen year old.

"Hey, Pa. Could I give that bottle of Blue Nun you got from Cousin Ornella to my probation officer?" he asked, flipping his ridiculously luscious locks. Merlin smiled to himself. Gwaine was a ridiculous flirt but Merlin still enjoyed his company.

"Do you see we´ve got some company?" Joe admonished, "Say hello."

"Hello, Merls. Nice, uh..." Gwaine surveyed Merlin, standing there at the doorway in a giant, moth eaten sweater and baggy cargo pants. "Sweater." Gwaine finished lamely.

"Thank you." Merlin smiled and tried to duck out before Gwaine could make a move on him.

"It´s over there." Joe said, pointing to the bottle. Gwaine went to the cabinet, bending over and revealing his plumber's crack. Joe followed Merlin to the doorway, shaking his head. "Merlin, you´re a nice boy. Joe Jr.´s still single." Joe said pointedly as he opened the door for him.

"Yeah, it´s a shocker." Merlin said laughingly, eyeing Gwaine's crack.

XXX

"What do you have?" the hot dog vender asked Merlin as he stood there counting out bills.

"Oh, the usual." Merlin had to push his baggy sleeves off his hand to get better access to his money

"What´s that?" the vender snapped.

"Mustard. Coke." Merlin sighed grumpily. He'd been going there every day; the least the vendor could do is remember him.

"Merlin! Merlin, Merlin, Merlin!" Merlin turned to see his boss coming up to him joyfully.

"Hi, Will."

"I´m glad to find you here." Will smiled. Merlin raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"I was hoping you´d find me in Bermuda." Merlin snarked, paying for his hot dog and turning to his boss, sipping his coke.

"Bermuda? Oh, that´s good. I am recommending you for Employee of the Month." He smiled at Merlin before turning to the vendor. "The usual."

" Really? I didn´t know there was an employee of the month." Merlin said, scowling at the vendor who handed Will his food with no fuss.

"Oh, yeah." Will said, pulling open a paper and reading out loud "'Supervisor Will Wallace nominates Merlin Emrys for Employee of the Month. Merlin is never tardy, always works holidays...even if he has worked the previous holiday. Just because he worked Thanksgiving, Merlin is willing to work Christmas too?'" Will asked looking up from his paper hopefully.

"Will, I´m not working Christmas." Merlin scowled, walking off.

"Ah, you´ll get a nice plaque with the mayor´s stamp on it" Will smiled, speed walking after him.

"I didn´t vote."

"You get to ride on a float St. Paddy´s day."

"I hate parades." Merlin scowled and then whirled to point a finger at Will. "And just because I have an accent doesn't mean I'm Irish. I'm Welsh, thank you very much."

"And Irish, but that doesn't matter." Will smiled. "Did I mention extra holiday pay?" Merlin scowled, Will knew how much he needed the money.

"I hate you." Merlin griped, taking a bite of his hot dog.

"Merlin. Look, Vivian is sick and Elena can´t switch because she´s got some big family thing. And I promised my kids I´d be there for them this year."

"It stinks, Will."

"I know it isn´t fair, and I can´t make you do it. But, Merlin, you´re the only one—"

"Without family." Merlin grumbled.

XXX

Merlin sat at the booth at the train station and grumbled to himself, taking token after token. This was by far one of his worst Christmas' in existence. "Hi." A female voice said and Merlin looked up to see his black haired beauty walking through the turnstiles and towards the platform. He gaped at her in complete and utter shock.

"Nice coat. Merry Christmas to you too. You´re beautiful. Will you marry me? I love you." Merlin said quietly as he watched the woman stand there, impatiently waiting for the train. Her hair was done up in a nice ballerina bun with a few expert strands twisting out. She wore a black dress and a pink pea coat and her sparkly heels tapped impatiently against the cement. Where was she going? Was she going to work or to see family?

"Yo!" Merlin watched as a couple of kids approached her.

"Hey!" One called out, crowding her against the edge of the platform.

"Nice coat." Another jeered.

"It´s Christmas." The first pointed out uselessly.

"Look, I don´t want any trouble." The woman said warily as the boys tried to take her purse and her coat.

"Oh!" her heel slipped and she fell backwards onto the rails.

"Shit!"

"Let´s go! Let´s go! Let´s go!" the kids shouted, running away as Merlin ran towards the woman and jumped onto the rails.

"Somebody help me, please! Miss? Miss? Miss? Are you okay? Can, can you get up? God, Miss, this is not good." Merlin patted the unconscious woman's cheek. "Oh, god, miss, um, can you-Are you breathing? Oh, god, you smell good!" Merlin babbled as he checked her wrist for a pulse. Merlin was starting to panic as people called for the police and the sound of the train was getting closer and closer. "Please wake up. Please. Please. Oh, god. Can you wake up? Can you hear me? Um-Oh, god! Wake up! Somebody help me please! Miss? Miss! There´s a train coming and it´s fast. It´s an express! Oh, god!" Merlin grabbed the woman and heaved her and himself out of the tracks with all of his might.

Everything after that was a daze. There were police and ambulance and a lot of questions. Merlin made his way to the hospital in a panic; he had to know if the woman was alright. He tried to get in to see her but he didn't even know her name, how could he; they'd never even spoken.

"I was going to marry her." Merlin whispered to himself. A cute nurse overheard him and ushered him into the woman's room. "Everything is gonna be okay. I know it." Merlin whispered to the sleeping beauty as he stood by her bedside.

"It´s gonna be fine." The nurse, Gwen smiled and patted Merlin's arm and went to stand in the hall.

"Excuse me. Is that the man that saved her life?" an officer approached asked the nurse.

"Yeah."

"Whoa." Officer Lance eyed Merlin appreciatively. The baggy clothes and constant fiddling couldn't hide Merlin's strange, ethereal beauty.

"It gets even better than that. She´s his fiancée." The nurse gushed. She and the officer exchanged glances before the officer turned towards Merlin.

"Excuse me, Sir I´m sorry, but I need to ask you a few questions." Merlin looked up from the woman's sleeping form and turned towards him.

"O-Okay." He was still pretty shaken up.

"Officer, may I interrupt you?" a doctor asked, appearing out of nowhere.

"Oh, sure. I´ll be right over there." Officer Lance told Merlin before going to the hall to flirt with the nurse again.

"Thank you. Thank you. I´m Dr. Rubin." The balding man introduced himself to Merlin.

"Hi, I´m Merlin."

"Don´t tell me about passes!" a blonde woman screeched from the hallway. Merlin and the doctor turned to see a throng of people rushing through the halls.

"Where the hell is he?" an old, grey haired man with a stern face, all but shouted.

"Dad, don´t embarrass me." A black haired, teenage boy blushed and looked around, horrified as they entered the comatose woman's room.

"Ooh, she´s so pale. My god!" a little old lady fanned herself and stared at the brunette's prone form.

"What is this?" The officer asked, coming into the room.

"This is my daughter. How is she?" The blonde woman cried.

"How depressing!" the old woman murmured, bending over and pulling up the girl's eyelid.

"You can´t come bursting into this unit!" the doctor said, appalled.

"She´ll be all right, right?" the man, who must be her father, demanded. "Right?"

"What happened?" the woman's younger brother asked.

"What´s going on?" another older man, with long, wavy white hair asked.

"She´s in a coma." The doctor explained.

"On Christmas day." The grandmother fanned herself again.

"Jesus!" the mother cursed.

"Her vital signs are strong. Her brain waves are good." The doctor explained to the parents. Merlin eyed the throng that was this family in a mix of growing horror and admiration.

"Brain waves." Someone muttered sarcastically.

"I think she´s gonna get through this." The doctor finished.

"Are you a specialist?" the white haired gentleman asked.

"How did this happen?" the mother demanded.

"Um, he was pushed from the platform at the train station." Merlin spoke up for the first time. Seven heads turned towards him simultaneously. Merlin gulped audibly.

"Who´s he?" the blonde accused.

"He´s her fiancée." The police officer said.

"Her fiancée?" five voices cried in shock.

"Yeah." Merlin did an awkward wave, fiddling with his sleeve, wondering how he had ever gotten into this mess.

"Morgana´s fiancée?" her father asked his wife. Merlin sighed in relief, finally having a name to put with the sleeping woman.

"Morgana´s engaged?" the mother asked. "She would´ve told us, right?" she screeched

"Now, please. Please." The doctor began, trying to get some semblance of order.

"She should´ve told us." The boy said loudly.

"Maybe she was busy." The grandmother said, poking Morgana's cheek.

"Too busy to tell her own mother she´s getting married?"

"No, no, no, don´t yell at her." the dad defended

"I´m not yelling at her. If only Arthur were here." The mother fanned herself this time.

"Grandma?" the boys asked, reaching out to his grandmother who was clutching her heart and breathing heavily.

"Is she okay?" Merlin asked the mother.

"She´s got a little heart problem. She´s had three attacks already."

"They weren´t attacks. They were episodes." The little old lady snapped defensively.

"Oh, geez!" the father rolled his eyes and Merlin grinned. "Nothing wrong with her hearing." He muttered. Merlin snorted and heads turned to look at him again, most of them scowling. "Excuse me, Doctor. What is he doing in here?" the father scowled.

"Hey, buddy. He saved her life." The police officer snapped.

"You saved her life?" Her mother gasped.

"Yeah, yeah, but, I—" Merlin began, blushing at their scrutiny.

"I thought she was pushed off a train platform." The man frowned.

"He jumped on the tracks." The officer explained.

"You jumped on the tracks?" this time the father was incredulous.

"Yeah." Merlin gulped, withering under the man's gaze.

"Doctor, it´s supposed to be family only." The man complained.

"She is family." The old woman smiled kindly.

"He´s the fiancée, you idiot!" the mother hit her husband on the back of the head. Merlin wondered if this is what it was like to have a family, everyone always talking over each other.

"Okay, look, I-I´m sorry. You, you don´t understand—" he began, dying to get away from this madness, edging towards the door.

"I´m awfully sorry. We haven´t seen her for a long time, so we didn´t know. I always wanted her to find a nice boy. I´m so glad she found you." The mother hugged Merlin tightly and he froze in shock, never having been hugged by a mother before. The rest of the family swarmed Merlin in a group hug and he stared at the police officer, silently begging for help.

As soon as Morgana's family let Merlin have five minutes to himself he was in the halls and cornering the nurse, Gwen. Gwen was a cute girl and Merlin instantly wanted to be friends with her but he had to do something else first.

"What?" Gwen asked pleasantly.

"Why did you say that? I´m not her fiancée."

"Say what?" Gwen gasped. "Why did you tell me that you were?"

"I´m not engaged. I´ve never even spoken to the girl." Merlin said glanced around, panicked.

"What? Well, down- downstairs you said, you said you were gonna marry her."

"Ah, fuck, I was talking to myself." Merlin blushed, embarrassed.

"Well, next time you talk to yourself, tell yourself you´re single and end the conversation."

"What am I gonna do?" Merlin asked, panicked and slightly insulted.

"I don´t know." Gwen shrugged a full body shrug.

"She held me so tight. I-I- You know, I couldn´t- I couldn´t tell her."

"I know." Gwen smiled sadly. They stared at each other for a moment before the white haired gentleman that had come in with the family approached.

"Excuse me, nurse. Is there a pharmacy in the hospital?"

"Uh, what, what do you need?" Gwen tucked a strand of her curly hair behind her ear.

"Elsie. She wants, uh, nitroglycerin."

"Oh, for her heart problem?" Gwen asked kindly.

"Problem? Problems!" the man snorted. And turned to Merlin. "You know something´, I think you saved her life. In fact, I think you saved the whole family. Bless you." Merlin blushed furiously and Gwen interfered.

"Why don´t you come with me. I´ll take you down there."

XXX

"So, tell us how you met Morgana?" Elsie asked later that day in the waiting room, fanning herself again.

"Ma, he doesn´t wanna talk about that now, okay?" Ygraine, Morgana's mother, muttered.

"Why not? We could all use a nice story."

"How do you know it was nice?" Uther, the father asked.

"Of course it was nice. Why shouldn´t it be nice?"

"What about that other girl? What´s her name? The one she met in the bar?" Uther asked his white haired friend.

"What´s that got to do with the price of eggs?" Elsie asked and Merlin blinked in shock, wondering what the heck was going on. He hadn't known that Morgana was a lesbian. But then again the family didn't seem at all surprised that Morgana was 'engaged' to him. So perhaps she was bi?

"Morgause Bartlett Bacon." The white haired man laughed

"Gaius." Ygraine chided

"All l know is she was pretty high and mighty for someone named after breakfast meat." Merlin snorted again and buried his face in his infinity scarf.

"Well, she has a nice boy now." Elsie smiled warmly at Merlin.

"So, did you steal her from Morgause?" Morgana's little brother Mordred asked.

"I bet it was love at first sight. Right?" Elsie asked. "I have a sense about these things."

"Elsie, let him tell it." Ygraine sighed

"He is telling it. I bet that she picked you up in that fancy car of hers. What was it about her that, you know, that first struck you?"

"It was her, uh, smile." Merlin spoke for the first time in a half hour of being with this family.

"They´re caps. Six hundred bucks a tooth." Uther grumbled.

"Shh." Ygraine waved at him absently, her attention rapt on Merlin.

"Well, um-We saw each other, and, um...she, uh, smiled. And-And l knew that... my life would never be the same." The Pendragon family cooed and Merlin blushed.

XXX

"So-Tomorrow night, 8:00." Gwaine said, standing in the stairwell in his patent wife beater and skinnies.

"What?" Merlin smiled at him bemused and walked up the stairs towards his door.

"I got Ice Capades. I know a guy." Merlin rolled his eyes and slammed the door in Gwaine's face. He was tired from the long day at the hospital. He sat at his table and poured Kilgharrah his food and sighed. He stood up, pulled on his boots, giant leather jacket and scarf and headed towards the hospital a second time that day.

"Huh. Hi." Merlin sighed and sat next to Morgana's bedside later that night. "Um- Bet you´re wondering what I´m doing here in the middle of the night, huh? Well, I-I thought I should introduce myself. My name´s Merlin. Merlin James Emrys. I think you should know your family thinks we´re engaged. Never been engaged before. This is all very sudden for me." Merlin laughed at his own stupid joke and fiddled with his holey sweatshirt. "Um-What, what I really came here, uh, to tell you was that, um...I didn´t, I didn´t mean for this to happen. I don´t know what to do. I mean, if, if, you were awake, I wouldn´t be in this mess. Oh, god. Not that I´m blaming you. Sorry." God now he sounded like Gwen, who he found out had a penchant for rambling and stuttering that seemed contagious.

"I´s just that, you know, when I was, when I was a kid, I always imagined what I would be like or where I would be or what I would have when I got older. And, you know, it was the normal stuff. You know, I´d have a house and family and things like that. Not- You know, not that I´m, I´m complaining or anything. ´Cause, you know, I have, I have, I have a cat. I have an apartment, um-Sole possession of the remote control. That´s very important. It´s just...I never met anybody that I could laugh with, you know? Do you believe in love at first sight? Nah, I bet you don´t. You´re probably too sensible for that."

"Or have you ever like seen somebody and, and you knew that if only that person really knew you they would, well, of course, dump the perfect model that they were with and, and realize that you were the one that they wanted to just grow old with." Merlin sighed remembering his last boyfriend. "Have you ever fallen in love with somebody you haven´t even talked to? Have you ever been so alone you spend the night confusing a woman in a coma?" Merlin sighed and stared out the window at the night sky, feeling utterly alone. He sighed again, hating how normal the feeling was.

Gaius stood at the doorway watching the sad boy poor his heart out to Morgana. Merlin deserved better than Morgana that was for sure. Gaius loved the girl but she was crazy. And now he had learned that Merlin and Morgana didn't even know each other at all. Gaius thought that perhaps Merlin could be the one to change Morgana into a good woman when she woke up.

XXX

Merlin woke with a crick in his neck and sat up, confused. He looked around and realized he was in Morgana's hospital room and it was early morning. "Oh, my god." He grabbed his jacket and whirled towards the door just in time to see her family coming in.

"Merlin!" Ygraine cheered.

"Hi" Merlin waved awkwardly

"We didn´t know you were here." Merlin shrugged helplessly.

Hi. Were you here all night?" Uther asked, kissing his daughter's forehead. Merlin nodded, embarrassed.

"You´re like me. I could always sleep anywhere." Elsie laughed and headed over to sit by her granddaughter.

"And believe me, she has." Gaius chuckled, kissing Merlin's cheek and heading over. Merlin jerked backwards in surprise at the affectionate gesture from this stranger.

"Way to go, Gram!" Mordred laughed and walked over to his sister.

"So, how´s Morgana?" Ygraine asked, grabbing Merlin's hand.

"Oh, well, she´s got more color." Merlin gestured with his floppy sleeve.

"She has some color. Looks like she has some color" Elsie echoed.

"Yeah." Uther grunted, rolling his eyes and sharing a look with his son.

"Well, I, I have to go, so it was great to see you guys again." Merlin extracted his hand from Ygraine's vice like grip.

"Tell him. Go on, tell him." Ygraine urged her husband as she took her daughter's hand.

"Yeah." Uther grunted again and turned towards Merlin. "We didn´t get to, uh, celebrate Christmas, so, uh, it would be nice if you could join us." Merlin hadn't expected this at all.

"Oh, um- Oh, I-I-I would love to, but I can´t."

"Arthur´s gonna be there." Elsie smiled happily.

"That´s right. You haven´t met Arthur yet." Ygraine positively beamed. Merlin wad beginning to sense that Ygraine favored this 'Arthur' over her other children.

"No, not yet." Merlin said weekly.

"Oh, he´ll be so happy to meet you."

"So you´ll come tonight?" Uther asked.

"I really shouldn´t because I have to work." Merlin muttered weakly.

"Well, look here. Put your phone number and address down there." Uther handed him a sticky note and a pen. "Ygraine'll call you and talk you into it."

"Okay." Merlin laughed as Ygraine nodded furiously and Mordred rolled his eyes at her back.

"And here´s another card for when you change your mind." Uther handed him a card that read 'Pendragon and Sons.' "We´re in the estate furniture business. We buy furniture from dead people."

"Okay. All right, well I have it. So, bye. Bye." Merlin waved to the family, slightly creeped out by that fact.

"Bye, dear. See you later." Elsie and Ygraine called.

"Bye." Merlin smiled and walked to the elevators and pressed the call button. He stood at the elevators impatiently tapping his foot and rubbing the crick in his neck. "Sir? Excuse me, Sir." One of the orderlies called.

"What?" Merlin snapped crankily as the elevator opened and a brunette woman stepped through. "What is this?" Merlin asked as a box was placed into his hands.

"I´m sorry, Mr. Pendragon. These are your wife´s things."

"She´s not my wife!" Merlin stamped his foot angrily.

"I´m sorry. Your fiancée." The man smiled and walked away.

"Uh, you´re Morgana´s fiancée?" the lady that had stepped out of the elevator asked.

"Okay." Merlin sighed and hefted the box onto his hip.

"Sophia Clark. Colleague of Morgana´s at Lubel, Parker, Jacobs and Fink."

"I have to go now." Merlin gestured towards the elevator.

"Oh, she´s a great gal. She´s had a tough year. What, with the accident last month and all." Sophia continued, ignoring Merlin altogether.

"Accident?" Merlin scowled as she babbled on.

"Well, of course it was an accident! I mean, it wasn´t my- Did she tell you it was my fault? We´re playing racquetball, all right? I carry a pencil! I´m a lawyer! I do that!"

"Okay." Merlin blinked not understanding at all. He scowled as the elevator doors closed without him.

"Jesus, what´s she telling—"

XXX

"So what´s the big deal?" Will asked, eating his hotdog and filling out some forms.

"What´s the big deal? Will, they think I´m their future son-in-law." Merlin threw himself onto the cement railing of the bridge. "And the grandmother, then she´s got this heart thing. And if I tell her the truth, she´s gonna have a heart attack, and she´s gonna die, and it´s gonna be on my head." He griped, rubbing his face, tiredly.

"Well, then, go along with it." Will didn't bother looking up from his paper work. "And when Morgana comes out of the coma, the family´ll be so happy they won´t care that you lied to them. They´ll probably even thank you for it."

"Okay. What if she doesn´t come out of this coma?"

"Well, then who´s to know?"

"I don´t know!" Merlin sighed, sliding down the railing to sit on the ground and look up at Will who was sitting at a picnic table, engrossed in his work and food.

"Look, look, Merlin. When my mother found out I was getting married to my wife, her intestines exploded. Now, you tell them now—"

"Oh, my god." Merlin groaned into his hands.

"You might as well shoot Grandma." Merlin groaned loudly and a few seagulls nearby squawked and fluttered away angrily.

XXX

Merlin hopped out of the taxi and gaped at the Pendragon's house. It wasn't an estate, but no fucking way was it a house. It was styled in the late Victorian way and Merlin couldn't help but gape and clutch harder at the poinsettias he had brought along. "What am I doing?" he whispered to himself. He glanced to the right saw the newspaper delivery boy biff it on a rough patch of ice and he laughed heartily. He felt much better afterwards.

"Merlin!" Merlin turned to see Gaius approaching.

"Hi, Gaius, hi." Merlin used his giant sleeves to wipe tears of mirth from his eyes.

"You made it, huh?"

"Yeah." Merlin stuck out his tongue at the boy who cussed at him for laughing.

"How you feel?" Gaius smiled warmly.

"Okay. Okay." Merlin said, turning back towards him.

"Come on, keep me company for a while. I don´t like to smoke in the house." He waved his cigar and they walked towards the steps. "You want one?"

"Nah, I'm trying to quit." Merlin joked.

"That´s good." Gaius laughed. "Here, sit down. They don´t bother you, do they?" he asked, taking a drag.

"Uh, no, no, I´m fine."

"Did you know that I was Morgana´s godfather?"

"Really? I-I thought you had to be Catholic for that."

"Uther fudged it over."

"Oh?"

"He donated 50 folding chairs to Father Shea´s bingo night. You know, being a godfather is very important to Catholics. It means you´re practically part of the family."

"Well, you´re lucky. It´s really important to have family around this time of year." Merlin smiled sadly.

"Are you, uh—I mean, are your parents with you?"

"No, no. My, my mom died when I was really young...and, uh, a couple of years ago, my dad got sick... and, uh, we moved from Indiana to Chicago so he could go to a research hospital."

"Research. A medical term for very expensive, huh?" Gaius smiled, sympathetic.

"Yeah. Yeah, exactly." Merlin ruffled his hair in exasperation.

"I had to quit school and I started working for the C.T.A. And, um, about a year ago, he decided he had had enough _research_, and he passed away." Merlin sighed. "I was studying medicine. Was gonna be a doctor. Seems ironic now, somehow."

"My wife Alice, of 52 years passed away two years ago, February the 19" Gaius said suddenly.

"I´m sorry." Merlin sighed and scrubbed at his eyes again with his sleeve.. "Yeah, it was a rough time for me. But Uther got me through."

"You´re good friends?" Merlin smiled, wishing he had friends like that.

"The best! Merlin, the Pendragons, well, they took me in as part of their family. I´d never let anyone hurt them."

"Neither would I." Merlin said seriously. And he meant it. He loved the Pendragons as if they were his own family. Though Uther scared him a little bit.

"I believe you wouldn´t." Gaius nodded his approval and Merlin raised a brow in question.

"Merlin? You came?" Ygraine laughed and opened the front door. Hi, Gaius. Oh, this is great! Hey, come on in, you two. It´s freezin´ out here. Elsie made her eggnog." Gaius helped Merlin up; they had all learned very quickly how clumsy Merlin was.

"Word to the wise: Drink soda." Gaius chuckled.

"Okay." Merlin laughed.

"Uther, Mom, look who´s here. Merlin came!

"Hi. Hi, Mordred." Merlin called as they ushered him into the house.

XXX

Merlin sat on the couch by the lovely Christmas tree, looking through a scrap book full of pictures of Morgana and a blonde haired angel of a boy. Merlin hoped desperately that that boy wouldn't turn out to be Arthur because he looked exactly like Merlin's type. If he was Merlin knew that he would fall arse over tits for him and a dozen Morganas couldn't' lure him away.

"That´s Morgana on the right." Ygraine pointed to a newspaper clipping that proclaimed, 'Local Girl Saves Squirrels.'

"She´s so sweet." Merlin smiled.

"Oh, yeah, the squirrels." Uther laughed. "Eggnog everyone." Ygraine called handing out the eggnog. Uther and Mordred shared horrified looks and Gaius shuddered. Merlin sipped it and gagged. Mordred patted him sympathetically on the back.

"I´m getting my camera." Elsie called. "Come on, everybody. Get close to the tree. Oh, Christmas pictures!"

"Merlin, come on." Ygraine smiled gesturing to him.

"Come on, Merlin." Uther agreed.

"Come on, let´s go. Let´s go." Mordred yanked Merlin into their group picture.

"I don´t want I—" Merlin blushed and stammered.

"Watch the birdie." Elsie called. Merlin looked to her, having no clue what she was talking about. The camera flashed and he blinked bright spots out of his vision, laughing.

"Oh, Ma, take it again. I blinked." Ygraine laughed.

"Well, you´re lucky. I´m blind." Uther gripped. They took one more photo, this time with everyone prepared and then they sat around the living room.

"I don´t drink anymore." Elsie said when Gaius offered her some wine.

"Oh?" he raised what Merlin had affectionately dubbed his eyebrow of doom.

"I don´t drink any less either." Elsie chuckled. They all laughed at her joke and presents were passed around. They had even gotten Merlin a sweater that actually fit. It was a nice one, cassimere, and he never wanted to take it off. Mordred had wolf whistled when he pulled off his ratty sweater, revealing a striped tank underneath. The Pendragons were all surprised at his tattoos but he blushed and stammered and pulled on the new sweater and no one said anything.

XXX

The front door creaked open around two in the morning, and a tall, well-built blonde tip toed in. He brushed snow from his hair and his jacket and hung up his rather expensive coat and scarf, gifts from Morgana. He looked up, smiling to see his little brother racing down the stairs and into his arms.

"Arthur!" Mordred giggled jumping into Arthur's embrace. "Hey, buddy! Whoa!" he laughed as Arthur spun him around.

"Hey." Arthur laughed, boomingly. Merlin woke with a start and listened to their conversation.

"Shh. Arthur. Don´t wake Merlin." Mordred smiled and pointed to the living room where Merlin was curled up into a ball on the couch, still wearing his new sweater. Arthur leaned into the room, holding onto the doorframe.

"Who- Who´s Merlin?" Merlin internally groaned at how beautiful Arthur's voice was.

"Merlin´s Morgana´s fiancée."

"No, that´s not Morgana´s fiancée." Merlin paled and tensed, hoping against hope that he wouldn't be found out.

"You haven´t met him?"

"No." Arthur shook his head and turned to Mordred.

"Well, he´s great. You´re gonna love him."

"You know what, kid, maybe I´ll stay the night." Arthur messed up Mordred's hair and started up the stairs, his baby brother trailing him.

"Don´t eat my cereal in the morning."

"Oh, so it´s Mordred´s special cereal?" Arthur snickered.

"The last time you took the toy surprise, remember?" Merlin smiled warmly into his pillow, wishing he had a family like this.

XXX

Merlin rolled off the couch and onto the bed and cussed vulgarly. He growled to himself and pushed himself into a seating position. Arthur was sitting on the stairs reading the morning paper with a cup of coffee. He snorted quietly. Merlin grabbed his overlarge sweater and his brown leather jacket and lumbered to the hallway were he shuffled into his shoes.

"Good morning." Arthur smiled. Merlin squeaked and Arthur smiled hugely.

"Oh, god. Oh, shit you scared me." Merlin clutched his heart.

"Sorry."

"Um, good morning, Arthur." Merlin said, pulling on his old sweater and jacket.

"Um, I guess I don´t remember meeting you." Arthur smiled sarcastically, titling his head and studying Merlin. Hating that how beautiful he found Morgana's fiancée.

"Well, it´s probably because we´ve never met." Merlin quipped.

"That might have something to do with it." Arthur smiled, bemused. A horn honked outside and Merlin jumped.

"Ooh. Cab. I have to go. I´m really—I'm really late ´cause I have to go. But, um, I—It was nice to meet you, Arthur. So, good-bye." Merlin started out the door.

"Merlin." Arthur called after him.

"Okay, look, I know that I—"

"Hey."

"Hmm?"

"Welcome to the family." Arthur smiled, his heart warming at the blush that spread across Merlin's ridiculously high cheekbones.

"Oh, thank you. Bye." Merlin turned and stumbled, his blush reaching his also ridiculously large ears.

XXX

"We pray that the Lord´s healing presence will be felt by those who are sick, and by their families. Especially Jo-Jo Goleki, Morgana Pendragon, Craig Little and Peggy Dunne. We pray to the Lord. Lord, hear our prayer. O God, You call us to live as one family." The priest recited that Sunday at mass.

"So, who´s this Merlin?" Arthur asked.

"Save us from the mere, pragmatic views of today." The priest intoned.

"He´s your sister´s fiancée." Uther grunted

"That we may be the proof of Your gentleness."

"You´d think if Morgana were getting married, she would have announced it in the Tribune." Arthur scowled.

"We ask this through Christ our Lord."

"We read the Sun Times." Uther replied.

"Amen."

"Amen." The congregation chorused.

"So why did he sneak out this morning?"

"He has a job." Uther scowled back at his son.

"I like Mass better in Latin. It´s nicer when you don´t know what they´re saying." Elsie said wistfully. Arthur snorted into his sleeve and Mordred coughed to hide his laugh. Uther and Ygraine shared a harried look.

"Did you get the Bourbeau estate?" Uther asked Arthur.

"Got it."

"What about Downey´s?"

"Got it."

"Himmelstein´s?"

"Yeah."

"Did you get Van Allan?"

"Himmelstein´s took too long." Arthur grunted, looking around the cathedral.

"Aah, for Christ´s sake, Arthur" Uther pouted.

"Stop swearing!" Ygraine hit the back of Uther's head.

"Look, you´re runnin´ the business now." Uther scowled at his wife and turned toward his son.

"There´s something I´d like to talk to you about." Arthur looked at him pointedly.

"Talk about that later, okay?" Uther sighed, turning back to the priest's sermon.

"Talk about it now. He can´t kill you in church." Mordred said leaning into their conversation. Arthur scowled at Mordred and his brother shrunk back into the pew. Only Morgana and Mordred knew that Arthur was gay and he wanted it to remain that way. And he definitely wasn't telling his father in church! No, Arthur had something else on his mind.

"Will you please pipe down?" a man in the pew behind them whispered harshly.

"Hey, be nice, pally. We´re in church." Uther snapped at the man.

"Hey. You´re disrupting the Mass!" the man argued back.

"Who made you the Pope?" Uther growled. Arthur snorted again.

"Uther!" Ygraine scowled.

"How did Joe Kelly get to be a lector? He takes marijuana." Elsie said to no one in particular. Arthur laughed out loud this time.

XXX

Merlin sat on his bed going through Morgana's things that the hospital had given him. He had learned rather a lot about a court case that Morgana had been working on. He pulled out a brown paper bag and dumped its contents onto his duvet. It was a can of fancy feast cat food.

"Oh fuck!" Merlin swore jumping off the bed, grabbing the can, Morgana's keys and his jacket and booking it out the door. He smiled and said hello to a couple of his neighbors as he carefully made his way across the ice. He looked up and saw Gwaine pull a hammer and owner's manual out of his car and cursed. Merlin covered his face and scurried away, praying that Gwaine wouldn't see him.

"Come on, you stupid wing nut!" Gwaine cussed as he hit his engine with the hammer. "Oh, your mother´s—" Arthur pulled his truck up onto the curb and watched the man hammer his engine, bemused for a moment.

"Excuse me? Do you live here?" he asked after a few minutes of the three stooges like humor.

"Live here? I own this place." Gwaine said, flipping his long hair and surveying Arthur like a piece of meat.

"Oh, great. Um-Well, then you would know the man that lives in 201?" Arthur asked politely.

"Know him? I´m dating him." Gwaine smiled salaciously. Arthur scowled slightly and let Gwaine continue speaking. Merlin darted into Morgana's building, avoiding the front desk that was swarmed with rich families.

"Hmm. Very clean." Merlin scowled as he entered Morgana's apartment. It was very modern in its décor and Merlin would have thought it better suited for a bachelor pad, not a bachelorette pad.

"Kitty?" he called, entering the kitchen and opening the disgusting can of cat food. "Kitty? Rich kitty? Come here, mealtime." He called leaning over the counter and looking for the cat. "Kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty. Kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty." He frowned and picked up the cat food and wondered into the dining room. "Kitty? Kitty? Food. Kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty. Come here. Come here. Come on, honey." Merlin frowned in confusion, entering the kitchen again.

Arthur unlocked Morgana's apartment and looked around for some proof that Morgana and Merlin were a real couple. He stopped in the hall outside of the kitchen as he heard Merlin calling for a cat. He frowned in confusion, never knowing Morgana to be a cat person.

"Where are you—" Merlin scowled pushing open the door into the hallway and hitting someone in the face. Whoever it was that he hit grunted in pain. Merlin froze in horror and slowly opened the door.

"Oh, I´m so sorry." He gasped when he saw Arthur rubbing his nose.

"Nice shot." Arthur laughed

"Oh, um— I´ll get you some ice. I´m sorry. I wasn´t expecting anybody." Merlin put the cat food down and opened the door to the freezer and pulled out an ice pack. He turned and held it gently against Arthur's face, blushing as he did so.

"Hey, how´d you get in here?" Arthur asked, replacing Merlin's hand with his own. Immediately missing it when Merlin turned and picked up the cat food again.

"Um—Oh. Uh... key?" Merlin said uncertainly, looking around for the cat.

"Key? Oh, you stay here a lot, huh?" Arthur asked, hating the jealousy that swelled up in his chest. Merlin was his sister's fiancée; he shouldn't be having these feelings.

"Oh, you know, feed the cat." Merlin shrugged nonchalantly, still looking around for the animal.

"Morgana doesn´t have a cat." Arthur responded. Merlin looked at him in confusion.

"Meow." They turned to see a white Turkish Angora meowing weakly at them.

"Ohh." Arthur said in shock

"Hello. Hello, honey." Merlin cooed, picking up the cat and cuddling it to his chest, "Aithusa!" he said, reading its name tag. "Hello, Aithusa. You must be so hungry." He placed the cat and food on the table. Petting it as it ate hungrily.

"Mm." Arthur watched suspiciously. The phone rang and Merlin turned and blinked at it before going back to the now purring cat. "Are you gonna get that?" Arthur asked, narrowing his eyes at him.

"Uh, no, I'm gonna let the machine get it." Merlin shrugged and pulled out a tub of baskin robbins ice cream from the freezer. He rummaged around for a spoon while Arthur answered Morgana's phone.

"Hello? It´s for you." He said handing over the phone. Merlin scowled over the spoon of ice cream in his mouth and yanked the phone from Arthur's grip.

"Hello?" he said over a mouthful of ice cream. He took another spoonful while he listened to the other end, Arthur watching him the whole time. Merlin would be a liar if he said he wasn't a little turned on by it. "Okay. Bye-bye." Merlin hung up and turned toward Arthur. "Um, that was the hospital. They say it´s customary for friends and family to come down and give blood." He dropped his spoon into the sink and put the dessert back in the freezer.

"Let´s go together." Arthur smiled too brightly. Merlin blinked, momentarily dazzled by Arthur's pearly whites. He grabbed his jacket and Morgana's keys and headed towards the underground parking lot.

"You know what? I think maybe we should take your truck." Merlin said, eyeing the expensive cars, having no clue which one was Morgana's.

"Oh, no. We oughta take Morgana´s car." Arthur smiled brightly and Merlin was seriously beginning to hate that sarcastic smile.

"Okay." He grumbled looking around the parking lot.

"You know where it´s parked, don´t you?" Arthur teased.

"Oh, yeah, I, uh- Yeah." Merlin pressed the button on the car keys and the lights on a car a few feet away flickered and beeped.

"Hmm." Arthur scowled sliding into the passenger side of the expensive black car.

"Hmm." Merlin echoed sarcastically, sliding into the driver's seat and admiring the Italian leather.

XXX

"Hey, we´ll have to get your picture for the mantle." Arthur said as the nurse patched up their arms.

"Of, of me?" Merlin balked, looking up from the gauze.

"No, of you and Morgana." Arthur laughed.

"I´m not that photogenic." Merlin gulped, panicking again.

"I doubt that." Arthur eyed him while he was looking down at the bandage. Merlin was one inch taller than Arthur's six foot one. He was pale and lanky and absolutely gorgeous. Arthur wished that he had met Merlin before Morgana had. Though perhaps not, Merlin may be cheating on his sister after all. Merlin wasn't traditionally beautiful but Arthur was captivated by him. And his snarky personality and quick retorts were quickly making Arthur want him more and more, despite the cheating.

"All right. Now, I want you to sit here and sip this, or you´ll get woozy." The nurse said, handing them each a small paper cup.

"When did you start seeing Morgana?" Arthur asked as the nurse wrapped his elbow in gauze.

"September 17th." Merlin said, downing the cup in one go and standing up.

"Three months. That´s quick." Arthur said, surprised and more than a little envious.

"You have no idea." Merlin said warily, grabbing his jacket and walking away.

"That´s fast. That´s a fast engagement." Arthur called after him.

"Mister!" The nurse called out in shock as Arthur tried to go after Merlin.

"I´m fine." Arthur grunted.

"Wait, I´m not finished with you!" Merlin turned back just in time to see Arthur faint. He snickered and headed towards Morgana's room, confident that the nurses would take care of Arthur.

"What the hell she got a TV for? She´s in a coma, for Christ´s sake!" Merlin smiled as he entered Morgana's room. Uther and Gaius were playing poker while Mordred watched raptly.

"Uther, shh. She might hear you, you know." Ygraine scowled, looking up from where she and Elsie were knitting what looked to be ugly Christmas sweaters.

"Then get her a radio." Uther snarked and Merlin snorted.

"Maybe she´d like us to sing to her." Elsie said as Arthur walked into the room behind Merlin.

"Maybe Merlin knows her favorite song." Arthur challenged.

"Puff, the Magic Dragon." Ygraine announced.

"Dragon." Merlin said, finishing the song title with her and smiling at Arthur tensely.

"Which one of the Three Stooges was Morgana´s favorite?" Arthur asked, turning on Merlin.

"Curley." Merlin said after a moment of thought.

"Curley! Hah!" Arthur laughed once, loudly and everyone jumped. "He´s everybody´s favorite."

"No, I like Shemp." Gaius told Uther, placing down his cards.

"Favorite ice cream?" Arthur challenged.

"Baskin-Robbins." Merlin said, remembering the gallons of it in Morgana's freezer.

"Favorite baseball team?"

"Chicago." Merlin guessed.

"Cubs or White Sox?"

"What the heck is going on?" Mordred asked eyeing them.

"Why are you asking him all these questions?" Ygraine asked warily.

"Don´t ask me, ask his boyfriend." Arthur said loudly.

"That isn´t very funny, you know." Ygraine said, clutching her heart.

"Gwaine. Fusco." Arthur declared to his family. Merlin choked on saliva.

"Gwaine? Wife beaters and skinny jeans, Gwaine?" Merlin bubbled out a laugh.

"Mm-hmm, that´s right. Mr. Gwaine Fusco." Arthur raised an eyebrow in a challenge. "He said that you were intimate." Elsie gasped and started fanning herself.

"Yeah, well, he also said he invented aluminum foil. He´s delusional." Merlin said, trying to sooth the family.

"He was very lucid when I talked to him." Arthur declared.

"Oh, dear. Oh, dear." Elsie fanned herself dramatically.

"Ma, you okay?" Ygraine asked her in shock.

"You see what you did?" Uther frowned.

"What did I do?" Arthur asked innocently.

"Now, if he wanted to prove it, he´d prove it." Elsie said and heads turned to eye Merlin, daring him to say something that only someone who'd had sex with Morgana would know.

"Morgana…" Merlin swallowed…"Has a scar on the inside of her thigh up into her…*_cough, cough_* _stuff_." Merlin whispered weakly.

"No way." Arthur paled.

"Way." Merlin swallowed. About a month ago there was an accident and she was playing racquetball and her friend had a pencil in her back pocket."

"Eww!" Mordred squealed, covering his ears.

"Maybe, um—" Ygraine looked at Uther.

"No."

"Oh, no!" Elsie gasped excitedly.

"Well, somebody´s gotta look." Ygraine murmured.

"Don´t look at me." Gaius balked.

"No." Uther said again.

"Yeah, maybe, uh—"

"It´s not—It´s not my, uh, uh—" Arthur panicked, the female genitalia freaked him out normally, no way was he looking at his sister's.

"Okay, I´m her mother." Ygraine swallowed and pulled up the blanket.

"Oh, Mom! Eww!" Mordred gaped. Merlin blushed and made eye contact with Arthur who looked like he was going to be sick. Merlin tilted his head and surveyed Arthur, beginning to suspect that Arthur wasn't as straight as he seemed.

XXX

Merlin sighed and sat in his living room in only his boxers, folding all of his laundry. He scratched idly at the tattoo on his right forearm when he heard a knock on his door.

"Who is it?" he called, getting up and walking towards the door.

"What gives?" Gwaine's voice echoed through the door. Merlin pulled it open and looked at him in exasperation. "You stood me up." Gwaine held up his hands and pranced into Merlin's apartment.

"For what?" Merlin smiled slightly, closing the door.

"Our date." Gwaine threw up his hands again.

"What date?" Merlin laughed.

"To the Ice Capades. I had to eat your ticket."

"I never said I would go on a date with you." Merlin chuckled.

"Yes you did. Yes you did!"

"No, I didn´t. No, I didn´t!" Merlin shot back.

"Did too! Did! Did!"

"Didn´t! Didn´t! Didn´t!" they paused in their childish argument when there was a knock at the door. "Who is it?" Merlin called.

"Merlin, it´s Gaius." Was his reply.

"Oh, my god." Merlin croaked, grabbing Gwaine and pushing him towards his room.

"What, are ya two-timin´ me?" Gwaine frowned, hurt.

"I´m not two-timing. I never one-timed." Merlin growled.

"Hey, I´ll fight the guy." Gwaine threw up his fists as if to prove his point.

"Hey, get in the closet." Merlin pushed him hard into his closet. "Not a word."

"Nice panties." Gwaine smirked picking up a set of black lacey panties that Merlin hadn't worn once in his life. He promises. Merlin snatched the underwear away from Gwaine, slammed the door and rushed to open the door for Gaius.

"Hey." Merlin said, waving his hand that held the panties and then blushing and bringing his arm back down.

"I like boxer shorts, but, uh, I´ll try these, eh—" Gaius teased.

"Sorry." Merlin blushed, tossing the panties into his living room. A loud thump came from Merlin's closet and he winced.

"Have you got company?"

"No. TV. lt´s on... next door."

"Oh."

"Um... you, uh, want some coffee or tea or something?" Merlin asked letting Gaius in and closing the door.

No, no. Not a thing. Merlin, there´s something you should know." Merlin felt dread growing in his stomach.

"What?" he gasped.

"Well, the night you visited Morgana, I was outside the door. I know the truth." Merlin paled and collapsed onto a kitchen chair.

"Sorry, Gaius. You now, you do- You don´t have to worry, ´cause I´m gonna tell them everything."

"Don´t tell them a thing. Remember the day you said you´d- you´d never do anything to hurt the family?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, since they met you, they figure they have Morgana back. Now, if you tell them the truth, eh, it´ll take her away again. They need you, Merlin. Just like you need them. Now, look, I know you´re a good lad. And I know you´ll do the right thing."

"Thank you."

"Yeah. Yes, you will." Gaius turned to go. "Oh-Oh, oh, by the way, how did you know about the—he waved a hand vaguely in front of his crotch. "Morgana with the, uh—the scar." Merlin made a face and Gaius nodded. "You know something? I don´t wanna know." He smiled and left.

"Ooh!" Gwaine grunted.

"Oh, god! What´re you—" Merlin shouted yanking open the closet door to find Gwaine sitting on the floor and holding one of Merlin's ex-girlfriend Freya's high-heels.

" What—" Gwaine looked up in shock.

"What are you doing?" Merlin gaped.

"I slipped." Gwaine murmured.

"You´re trying on my shoes?" Merlin shrieked.

"No! When I fell, my foot went like that, right into the shoe." He mimicked the gesture. There was another knock on the door and Merlin growled.

"Who is it?" he shouted.

"It´s me, Arthur Pendragon." His voice was muffled but it still sounded like and angel. Merlin groaned.

"My god, doesn´t anybody use a phone anymore?" he snarled, stalking towards the door.

"I do." Gwaine called.

"I´m not talking about 900 numbers." Merlin snapped.

"Who told?" Gwaine gaped. Merlin yanked open the door and leveled his glare at Arthur who was gaping at Merlin. Merlin realized that he was practically naked but he couldn't find it in him to care.

"Hi. So, more questions?" He sighed rubbing his right shoulder. Arthur's gaze followed his hand and lingered on the tattoo there.

"No, I have an engagement present for you." Arthur mumbled awkwardly, looking at all of Merlin's other tattoos.

"Uh, you really shouldn´t have." Merlin did blush this time.

"I didn´t. It´s from my parents." Arthur shrugged.

"Oh." Merlin mumbled.

"It´s furniture. You want me to bring it up?" Merlin looked around his apartment, looking to see if anything would fit. "Hey, was that Gaius I saw leaving?" Arthur asked. Merlin nodded and grabbed a pair of jeans, shucking them on just as a loud thump came from his bedroom. He scowled in Gwaine's general direction. "What´s that?" Arthur asked, peering around Merlin's apartment.

" Cat." Merlin grumbled, grabbing a tank top and his leather jacket.

"Big cat." Arthur smiled, impressed.

"Um, I th- I think y- I think you should, um, bring it to, uh, t- bring it to Morgana´s apartment." Merlin stuttered, cursing Arthur's ability to shut off his higher brain functions.

"You don´t know what it is." Arthur smiled widely.

"Well, you know, anything would look nicer in Morgana´s apartment." Another thump came from Merlin's closet and he curse Gwaine to the deepest pits of Hades. "You know what? I´ll come with you." Merlin pulled on his tank top and followed Arthur out into the cold. Arthur helped Merlin into the moving truck, both of them blushing profusely.

"You know what? I think you parked too close to the other car." Merlin said when he got out of the truck in front of Morgana's apartment.

"Had to. We gotta unload the furniture." Arthur smiled and unlocked the back of the truck. "Ready for your surprise?" Merlin nodded. Arthur opened the truck and Merlin's eyes fell onto a nice cedar rocking chair.

"Oh, that is great. That is so great." He smiled, hoping into the truck to run his long, white fingers over the wood.

"You like that?" Arthur smiled, pleased.

"Yeah." Merlin smiled up at him.

"Too bad. Uther bought you the love seat." Arthur laughed, pointing to a horrific blue loveseat with pink roses.

"Oh, I´m sorry." Merlin said frowning at the couch in disgust.

"Don´t be. I made this." Arthur said, placing a hand on the back of the rocking chair.

"This?" Merlin turned back to look at the chair. "No, you didn´t."

"Shocking, isn´t it?" Arthur laughed.

"Can I sit in it?" Merlin smiled hugely.

"Rock out." Arthur shrugged genially. Merlin plopped into the chair and rocked a little bit.

"My god, this is perfect. You should go into business or something." He said, rocking back and forth.

"Well, then it gets tricky." Arthur shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets. Merlin leaned back and looked over the back of the chair, exposing his gloriously pale neck.

"Oh, yeah, working with your dad and everything, right?" Merlin asked.

"The business is called Pendragon and Sons, I quit and it becomes Pendragon and Son. And well Mordred's only fourteen, he can't really do much." Merlin nodded and they got to work bringing the hideous sofa up to Morgana's apartment.

"Let´s take a second here and unlock the doors off—" Arthur said as they wheeled the couch towards the main doors, heading towards the handicap sign.

"No-No, I got it, I got it." Merlin laughed opening the door.

"Oh. - See? Here we go." He leaned against one door with his ass and held the other open with his arms, creating an arch over the entryway.

"Oh, this technique." Arthur laughed, throwing back his head. "I´s always very, very, very modern technique this way." Arthur pushed the couch through and Merlin grabbed it and wheeled it towards the elevator as the bellhop approached Arthur.

"E-Excuse me, uh, sir, what apartment?"

"Uh, 37 G." Arthur said amiably.

"Well, sir, I´m sorry, but guests have to be announced, ya know?"

"Well, I´m with him. I´m helping him." Arthur gestured towards Merlin who stumbled and face planted onto the couch.

"So?" the man shrugged.

"You don´t know him?" Arthur frowned, his doubts about Merlin resurfacing.

"No. Bu-But I´m new here." The man stammered.

"Oh, well, he´s Morgana Pendragon´s fiancée in 37 G." Arthur smiled as Merlin tried to man handle the couch into the elevator.

"Ohh! Oh, yeah. They told me about him, sir. He´s scary."

"Tell me about it." Arthur laughed, following Merlin inside.

"Ooh! - Be careful." Merlin laughed as they tried to get the sofa into Morgana's apartment.

"Uh, maybe we should, uh, angle it a little bit." Arthur said looking over Merlin's shoulder into the living room.

"Um... I think it´s wedged." Merlin bit his lip and smiled at Arthur causing butterflies to swarm in Arthur's stomach.

"Why don´t you step back for a little bit? I´m gonna try an old trick."

"What´s-What´s the trick?" Merlin asked, stepping back and folding his arms over his scrawny chest.

"Push it really hard." Arthur laughed and ducked down, pushing against the loveseat.

" Okay, okay, push." Merlin called after a moment.

"I did." Arthur grunted, standing up.

"Do you want me to help you now?" Merlin laughed.

"All right, a little help would be good." Merlin grabbed his end of the sofa and pulled while Arthur pushed. "One, two, three-yah!" the couch burst through the door, taking part of the frame with it. Merlin stumbled from the shock and hit one of Morgana's vases causing it to shatter against the white carpet. Arthur leaned over Merlin's shoulder to look at the growing blue stain.

"I think the sofa should go right there." Arthur laughed. Merlin smiled at him and they cleaned up the mess as much as they could before depositing the sofa on top of it. Merlin pulled off his jacket and collapsed on top of the couch and Arthur collapsed next to him, throwing his arms around the back of the couch, behind them.

"This isn't a very comfortable couch." Merlin grouched. Arthur laughed and his arm slipped down, his hand brushing Merlin's collarbone. Merlin shuddered and Arthur quickly retracted his arm. Merlin blushed, hating how much he longed for the feel of Arthur's calloused fingers against his skin. Arthur blushed and looked away, longing to touch his sister's fiancée. Merlin stole a tub of ice cream and a spoon and they took turns taking bites as they made their way down to Arthur's moving van.

"Oh, no! No, no, no, look at this! Idiot just blocked me in." Arthur frowned at the car behind his truck.

"But I told you not to park that close." Merlin laughed, sucking on the spoon.

"Aaah! Hey, check the meter. See what time it is."

"Um, it´s six o´clock. They can pretty much stay here all night if they wanted to." Merlin shrugged, taking another bit of the daiquiri ice, ice cream.

"All night, huh?" Arthur scowled at the offending car.

"Um, good night." Merlin waved his spoon and started off in the opposite direction.

"You just gonna leave me here with the truck?" Arthur called after him.

"Basically, yeah." Merlin laughed, taking another bite.

"Well, maybe I oughta walk you back." Arthur said, catching up to Merlin.

"What for?" Merlin asked handing him the spoon.

"For protection." Arthur said, scooping out a huge helping and shoving it into his mouth.

"Oh, no, I´m fine. I´m okay." Merlin blushed, watching Arthur lick the spoon.

"For me. I don´t want to be here by myself." Arthur said around a mouthful of blue ice cream. "This is Chicago." Merlin blushed and accepted the spoon when Arthur offered it.

"You look cold." Arthur said as they crossed the bridge where Merlin usually got his lunch.

"Hmm?" Merlin asked around the spoon.

"You look cold."

"Probably because I am cold." Merlin smiled and handed over the spoon. "How about you?"

"This jacket´s reversible." Arthur laughed. "I´m wearing the warm side now."

"Oh, I see!" Merlin laughed.

"You need a better coat." Arthur tugged on the worn through leather.

"What? This was my dad´s." Merlin frowned.

"Ahh, then he´s probably freezing." Arthur laughed.

"He passed away."

"Ah. Shit, fuck. Sorry."

"It´s not your fault." Merlin laughed. "Passed away last year. I don´t even remember my mom, so—"

"What was he like?"

"He was a lot like me. Dark hair, clumsy feet, foul language."

" What do you remember most about him?" Arthur smiled amiably at Merlin, feeling his affection growing ever more.

"Oh-ho, that. Okay." Merlin laughed. "Um, well—He liked maps."

"Yeah, I live by maps. My truck´s filled with them." Arthur smiled.

"He used to hear of a place on the TV, and we would pull out the atlas, we´d find where it was. We´d route out this route, get there."

"If there were one place in the world where you´d go, where—"

"Florence." Merlin interrupted, beaming at Arthur, stealing the spoon and the last of the ice cream.

"Italy, ooh. I haven´t delivered any furniture to Florence yet, but I´m told it´s nice."

"Yeah." Merlin sighed wistfully.

"I take it you´ve never been there."

"Well, you know, the El doesn´t exactly make it all the way to Florence, so—" Merlin shrugged. "Oh, but l do have...my passport." Merlin whipped it out of his coat pocket.

"You have your passport!" Arthur laughed grabbing it while Merlin threw away the ice cream tub.

"Yes, I do!" Merlin laughed, rubbing his red nose on his sleeve.

"With you?" Arthur smiled up at him.

"Yes. Well, just in case I need to quickly leave the country," Merlin blushed.

"That´s perfect. That´s great. Oh, you´re right." Arthur opened it up and looked at his photo. "You´re not very photogenic at all." Merlin scowled at him and ripped it out of his hands. "Just joking. There aren´t any stamps in that."

"Yeah, well, I haven´t gone anywhere yet. But, you now, I´m planning a trip to Florence really soon, so, you know, I´ll go."

"That´ll make your dad very proud." Arthur smiled as Merlin tucked Morgana's spoon into his back pocket.

"Yeah. You know, in a very small way, you kind of remind me of him a little bit." Merlin shrugged against Arthur with his shoulder.

"I see. So, he was a classy guy, always a gentleman." Arthur laughed.

"A working man who—Who just stepped in dog shit." Merlin laughed.

" Ohh! Fuck." Arthur scowled, wiping his foot against the pavement.

"That´s, now that´s classy. That´s classy!" Merlin laughed.

"All right, tell me more. Where´d you grow up."

"God, you´ve just become Mr. Chatty this evening." Merlin laughed, wishing the butterflies would go away but at the same time, hoping they'd stay.

"Fact of the matter is, I´m about to start shivering, and making conversation keeps my face from freezing." Merlin laughed at him and placed his long, sleeve covered hands on Arthur's cheeks to warm him for a moment. Arthur and Merlin stared into each other's eyes, the tension growing thicker and thicker between them. Merlin coughed and pulled back.

"Thank you. I had, um, I had a good time." Merlin said.

"Oh, mm." Arthur nodded and Merlin started walking towards his apartment complex.

"S-S-Slippery here. Come on."

" Got this far. I´ll take you the rest of the way." Arthur said, following him.

"Well, you gotta watch out. A little icy."

"So, um, you gonna go see Morgana tomorrow?"

"Oh. Whoa-oa-oa! Whoa!" Merlin slipped a little and regained his footing.

"Whoa." Arthur shouted, grabbing Merlin from behind as he slipped. "All right—" He panted into Merlin's ear as he steadied himself.

"Do not take me with you!" Merlin laughed enthusiastically and Arthur swallowed thickly, watching Merlin's adam's apple bob up and down.

"No, it´s all right. It´s not too bad, yeah." Arthur said, wrapping his arms around Merlin's waist.

"You got it?" Merlin asked. "You got it? Okay."

"Yeah." Arthur groaned as they started moving again.

"There we go." Merlin said as they made it a few inches without slipping.

"Okay!"

"All right. Are ya all right?"

"This is—" Arthur's feet splayed out it two different directions. "Oh—Mm." he groaned, shoving his face into Merlin's back as they stopped slipping.

"Mm." Merlin grunted. "All right?" Merlin asked as Arthur stood up carefully.

"Yeah."

"I think we´re all right now."

- Okay?" they started moving again.

"It's just over this way," Merlin let go of Arthur and pointed and his feet when out from under him. He fell against Arthur, bringing them both down onto the ice. " Ow! Ohh! - What was that?" Merlin asked as a rip filled the air.

"Was that my pants or my muscles?" Arthur laughed dropping his head onto Merlin's chest. Merlin lifted his head and looked down.

"It was your pants." Merlin laughed. "I like your red briefs." Arthur slapped his thigh.

"Ow!"

"Give me your hand. Give me your hand." Arthur said, standing and offering his arm to Merlin.

"Whoa-ho!" Merlin shouted as Arthur pulled him onto his feet in one movement.

"Okay. Come on! You have an extra pair of pants in your apartment?" Arthur asked as they made their way to the door.

"If you fit into my pants, I will kill myself." Merlin threatened.

"You're not that much smaller than me Merlin." Arthur laughed.

"You don´t have to follow me." Merlin glanced back.

"No, you block the wind." Arthur laughed.

"I might have some pants you can wear." Merlin handed him the keys and headed towards his mail box. Arthur laughed and practically ran up the stairs. The landlord's door opened and Gwaine stepped out in his boxers and customary wife beater and a shabby robe.

"All right, Merlin, it´s either me or him."

"Him." Merlin laughed, skipping up the stairs.

"You don´t have to answer right away." Gwaine muttered as Merlin opened his door and walked in. Arthur was sitting in his living room surveying all of his jeans.

"Christ Merlin how is your waist this small?" he laughed. Merlin shrugged and shucked of his jacket and shoes and headed into the kitchen to make some hot cocoa. "Um…" Merlin turned to see Arthur holding the lacy black underwear. Merlin gulped audibly and they stared at each other for a long uncomfortable moment.

"Before you ask, yes those are mine." Merlin said, turning as red as Arthur's underpants. Arthur swallowed thickly, willing his arousal to go down.

"And you have these because?" he said roughly. Merlin groaned; Arthur's rough, scratchy voice wad affecting him in ways that no voice should.

"Umm. I'm gay." Merlin shrugged awkwardly. Arthur frowned in confusion.

"But you're with my sister."

"Well, I'm usually gay." Merlin corrected, wishing Arthur would just drop the panties. Arthur nodded acceptingly and placed the underwear to the side and continued to shift through Merlin's jeans. When he found a pair that he thought would fit he changed in the bathroom, quickly taking care of his increasing arousal. When he came back holding his ripped jeans, Merlin handed him a coffee cup full of hot chocolate.

"What do you want me to do with these." Arthur held up his old jeans, his voice was absolutely wrecked. Merlin smiled and wrapped the jeans around Arthur's throat.

"Instant scarf." Merlin laughed and placed a lid on Arthur's cup. Arthur laughed with him.

"Well, good night." Arthur said, making his way towards Merlin's door.

"Night." Merlin smiled sadly.

"So I´ll see you when I see you?" he asked, not wanting to go.

"Yeah." Merlin watched until Arthur was outside before he closed the door. Then he ran to the window and watched Arthur walking away, sipping at his Irish cocoa. Arthur looked back, waved and then disappeared around the corner. Merlin didn't notice that his black panties were gone.

XXX

"I´m having an affair. I like Arthur." Merlin declared, throwing himself across Will's picnic table.

"Who´s Arthur?" Will asked, handing Merlin his lunch.

"Morgana´s brother."

"So?"

"So he thinks I´m engaged."

"To who?"

"To Morgana." Merlin groused.

" Merlin, I really don´t have time for this." Will sighed, standing up.

" Oh, no, no, no, no, no. You have to tell me what to do." Merlin said, grabbing his tie.

"Tell the truth."

"If I tell Arthur that I lied to his family, he will never speak to me again. And-And-And Uther and Ygraine and Mordred and-and-and Gaius—"

"Gaius? Who´s Gaius?"

"He´s a next-door neighbor. But you know what? Actually, he knows."

"Merlin, you´re born into a family. You do not join them like you do the marines." Will frowned, fixing his tie.

"You have to tell me what to do."

"Pull the plug." Will smiled at his pun.

"You are sick." Merlin frowned, sitting at the table and pulling his lunch toward him.

"I´m sick? You´re cheating on a vegetable." Merlin groaned.

XXX

"Down and dirty." Arthur sat by his sister's bedside playing poker with…well with himself. "Are you gonna fold? You´re not gonna fold." He turned over her cards. "Ooh, she is staying in with a pair. Very impressive. Very bold, confident." He placed his own cards down. "Full house. You are unlucky at cards." He sighed as he scooped up the cards. "But lucky in love. ´Member in like, uh, fifth or sixth grade, I was starting to get really good at poker, and, uh, goin´ home with lots of lunch money? I got to know the principal´s office really well. He always used to say to me, ´How come you can´t be more like your sister Morgana?´ Well, you know what? I was all right with that. I had no problems with that because I was proud of you. And I was never envious of anything that you had. Until now."

Uther sighed, thinking about the way Merlin had blushed scarlet when he'd seen Arthur holding his underwear. The underwear that Arthur had stolen. He hoped Merlin wouldn't notice or suspect him. "I´ll cut the deck. High card gets Merlin." He told his sister, cutting the deck and looking at the results. "All right, we´ll go best out of three."

XXX

"So, Merlin, have you and Morgana decided where you´re gonna go on your honeymoon?" Ygraine asked that night at dinner.

"I went to Cuba." Gaius volunteered.

"Ricky Ricardo was Cuban." Elsie said to no one in particular. Merlin smiled at Arthur.

"Didn´t Morgana look great today?" Ygraine asked her husband.

"Oh, that kid." Uther sighed.

"You know, she should have been an actress." Ygraine said to Merlin conspiratorially.

"She´s tall." Uther nodded.

"All the great ones were tall." Gaius agreed.

"Merlin, you think you can find me a nice girl for Arthur?" Ygraine giggled.

"Oh, Mom, come on." Arthur gaped.

"Well, I-I-I-I—I really don´t know Arthur´s type, so I´m not one to, um—" Merlin blushed.

"I like blondes. Chubby ones." Arthur smiled at his mom who smacked his hand and smiled.

"Well, we all know who Merlin´s type is." Ygraine laughed. Uther and Gaius were having a conversation about tall actresses.

"These mashed potatoes are so creamy." Elsie murmured.

"You like brunettes." Mordred said loudly in Arthur's face. Silencing everyone's conversations for a moment as they turned towards Arthur, wondering why he would lie. "And men." silverware dropped and Arthur turned green.

"Arthur, what?" Uther asked in shock. The look Arthur was giving Mordred was promising swift retribution.

"You like men?" Ygraine asked, fanning herself lightly. Elsie looked on with a wicked gleam in her eye. Arthur met Merlin's eye, directly across from him, panicked and Merlin nodded slightly. He stretched out his foot and touched Arthur's to comfort him. Arthur breathed in through his nose and sighed heavily.

"I'm gay." He said looking at his mother and father.

"Told you." Elsie said to Gaius who pulled out his wallet and paid her twenty dollars. Arthur blushed slightly.

"How long have you known?" Ygraine asked, worried.

"Since I was twelve." Arthur murmured, poking at his mashed potatoes.

"Ten years?" Uther gaped. "And you never said anything?"

"But you went out with all of those girls." Ygraine said, confused. Arthur's foot twitched and Merlin put more pressure on it. Arthur smiled at him, grateful.

"You made no secret about your disappointment in Morgana's experimenting with her sexuality. I was already a disappointment. I didn't want to be more of one." Arthur ruffled his hair and sighed. Ygraine wiped her eyes on her napkin and Uther blinked at Arthur in shock.

"Arthur you were never a disappointment." Now Arthur was wiping his eyes on his napkin.

XXX

"So if you need any help with history, don´t call me." Merlin and Mordred laughed as Arthur helped him into his coat.

"Now, remember, honey, if you´re free for New Year´s, we want to see you." Ygraine said cheerfully.

"Thank you very much. I had a great time." Merlin laughed.

"Us too."

"Thank you. Bye."

"Thanks for coming." They called as Arthur started to walk Merlin to the taxi.

"Hey, look, you guys. You´re under the mistletoe." Mordred said suddenly. Arthur scowled at his brother and looked up at the mistletoe hanging over his and Merlin's heads. He looked at Merlin who was blushing furiously.

" Kiss him, then." Elsie goaded.

"It´s mistletoe. It´s tradition." Uther said seriously, as if he wasn't getting a kick out of watching his newly out son squirm.

"It´s Christmas." Gaius laughed.

"Come on, idiot. Kiss him." Elsie cheered. Merlin and Arthur turned towards each other and leaned in for a quick peck. Merlin wasn't that much taller than Arthur but it was enough that Arthur had to tilt his head up a little bit. Their lips met for a fraction of a second but they both felt the sparks.

XXX

Merlin sat in the token booth and sighed to himself, replaying his and Arthur's kiss over and over again. His job didn't really take any effort at all. He had to do something to keep himself entertained.

"One token, please." Someone asked in a voice that was way too deep and raspy to be normal. Merlin looked up to see Mordred and a teenage girl standing at his window.

"Oh, my god! Mordred! What are you doing here?" he laughed. "Hi. Do you guys wanna- you wanna come through?"

"We can?" Mordred squeaked in his much higher voice that showed all the strain of puberty.

"Yeah, absolutely." Merlin ushered them in and hugged Mordred.

"Hey, who´s this?" Elena asked, turning to look at the kids in their booth.

"I´m Mordred. This is Kara."

"Hi."

" Um, Mordred´s—Mordred´s my, um—" Merlin frowned trying to figure out how to explain their relationship.

"Merlin´s going to marry my sister Morgana."

"What? Merlin, you´re gettin´ married?" Elena squealed, hugging Merlin.

"Well, it hasn´t really been announced. So it´s a little awkward for me to say anything, and, um— The train. Your—"

"Okay." Mordred smiled.

"The train." Merlin gestured over Elena's shoulder.

"Okay. Uh, I´ll see you later."

"Thank you for coming. It´s nice to meet you, Kara." Merlin smiled.

"I thought you were gay?" Elena frowned. "Is she pregnant?"

"Yes, she's pregnant, Elena." Merlin said sarcastically.

"Merlin, you´re not tellin´ me what´s goin´ on! You´re not givin´ me details. What´s goin´ on?"

"Okay, Elena. Elena, you have to have sex in order to be pregnant."

"But I thought you were engaged."

" Well, we´re- We´re waiting." Merlin muttered.

"Waiting?" Elena raised an eyebrow. "Are you still freaked out about sex with girls because of Freya?"

XXX

"New Year´s Eve hasn´t been the same since Guy Lombardo died." Elsie sighed wistfully watching the new years' countdown.

"I love a clarinet. You know, nobody plays a clarinet anymore." Gaius said, munching on some apple chips.

"Guy Lombardo didn´t play the clarinet." Elsie scowled at him.

"I didn´t say Guy Lombardo played the clarinet." Gaius frowned at her.

"Hey, Pop." Arthur said, walking into their living room. "We got the Van Allan estate."

"Hey, way to go. Attaboy!"

"Oh. That´s great." Ygraine smiled.

"Congratulations." Gaius grunted, still eyeing Elsie distrustfully.

"Hey, everybody." Mordred said storming in.

"Merlin's gay and Morgana's pregnant."

"How did you find out? What do you mean she´s pregnant?" Ygraine shrieked.

"How do you know?"

"Where have you been?"

"That´s what Kara said. We heard it at the token booth today."

"Arthur, do you know anything about this?" Uther asked as Arthur grabbed his jacket and stormed out.

"Go up to your room."

XXX

Merlin was pulling on his boots when he heard a knock at the door. He sighed, really wishing he could go back to being alone in life.

"Who is it?"

"Gwaine." Merlin winced.

"I´m not here." There was a pause and then

"I know that trick." Merlin sighed and stood up. "Hey, my old man´s got a set of keys."

"That is illegal, and you know it, Gwaine." Merlin scowled opening his door to frown at the man.

"Ta-da!" he said showing her a wreath-thing of flowers. "I told ´em to give me the same ones they use in the winner´s circle at Arlington."

"They´re beautiful." Merlin laughed at the horse flowers. "But I can´t accept them."

"I could move in here. I bet you Pop would knock 50 bucks off the rent."

"I have six months left to live." Merlin sighed dramatically.

"Aw, you´re just tryin´ to make me feel better." Gwaine laughed.

"It´s that other guy, isn´t it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I seen the way you look at him."

"What? How do I- How do I look at him?" Merlin stuttered.

"Like you just seen your first Trans Am." Gwaine smiled. "Aw, here, take ´em. You can lay ´em on my coffin."

"Thank you." Merlin laughed, giving Gwaine a hug.

"Are you wearin´ the black panties?" Gwaine asked, hand sliding down to Merlin's ass. Merlin pulled back and slapped him. "Ow! I love black underwears." Merlin snorted and grabbed the flowers and put them on his kitchen table. He grabbed his coat and skipped out of his apartment and ran into Arthur.

"What are you doing here?" Merlin asked fidgeting with his sweater sleeves.

"You´re going to a party." Arthur pointed to the campaign in Merlin's hand.

"Yeah, my friend Celeste is having a party tonight."

"Great. Hey, I´ll drive you."

"Oh, you know what? It´s really not that far. It´s—It´s fine."

"No, no, no. No. Come on, come on." Arthur smiled jovially while opening his truck door.

" Okay, but it´s, it´s really not that far." Merlin said, hopping in.

"I move a lot of things with this truck." Arthur said, walking over to his side of the truck. They rode in silence for a moment.

"So, is, um, everything okay?" Merlin asked, uncomfortable.

"Why? Why wouldn´t it be okay?"

"You´re just acting really weird." Merlin eyed him speculatively.

"No, no, I´m not being weird."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I´m not being weird. So, what about Morgana?" Arthur asked as they approached Elena's door.

"What about Morgana?" Merlin asked staring at him.

"Morgana is going to have a lot to deal with when she wakes up." Merlin raised an eyebrow just as Elena opened the door.

" Merlin! Hi. How are you?" she cooed, taking the campaign. "Hi!" she said to Arthur.

"Oh, come on. Come in. Hey, everybody. Merlin and his fiancée are here." Will called out.

" Merlin! Hey, how´s it goin´?" someone called.

"Will, you know Morgana, right?" someone else said.

"Morgana?" Arthur looked at Merlin, confused.

"I gotta talk to you." Merlin muttered. "When I said I was gay I meant, I'm _really_ gay. I've only been with one woman in my life." Will pulled Merlin aside as people thronged Arthur.

"Geez, he looks good." Will said, Elena agreed.

"That´s not Morgana. That´s Arthur." Merlin scowled.

" Uh, who´s Arthur again?" Will blushed.

"Morgana´s brother."

"Morgana´s the guy that´s in a coma."

"Girl, that's in a coma. But yeah."

"So then why did you bring Arthur?"

"I didn´t bring Arthur. He followed me here."

"So Arthur´s the fiancée?"

"No, Morgana." Merlin scowled.

"Morgana doesn´t even know you exist."

"I know."

"Merlin—"

"Yeah?"

"They have doctors for this kind of thing." Merlin scowled at Will and stomped off and grabbed a cup of eggnog.

"That´s spiked." Arthur said in his ear.

"Thank God."

XXX

" Wait a minute, will ya? lt´s freezin´!" Arthur called, following Merlin after he had loudly asked if Merlin had gotten his sister pregnant. "Uh, this whole evening did not work out well at all, and, uh—" Merlin whirled around and scowled at Arthur.

"Oh, and I´m supposed to share some responsibility in that?"

"No. Now— Would you slow down a little bit? Look. It was just a misunderstanding, And on top of the Gwaine thing—"

" Excuse me?" Merlin stopped in front of his apartment complex and placed his hands on his hips.

"It´s nothing." Arthur grumbled.

"No, no, no. There´s no ´nothing´ now. What Gwaine thing?"

"The leaning thing." Arthur said as if it explained everything.

"The leaning thing?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Um—What do you—What do you mean by ´the leaning thing´?" Arthur shrugged. "Because he gave me flowers?"

"And then you leaned." Arthur blushed.

"And then I leaned." Merlin raised an eyebrow and Arthur was convinced that Merlin was spending too much time with Gaius.

"Yeah."

"Okay. How did l lean when l leaned?" Merlin folded his arms and leaned against the building.

"How were you leaning?"

" Yeah."

"It was a lot different than hugging." Arthur placed a hand on the wall beside Merlin's head. "Hugging´s very different. Hugging, that involves arms and hands, and leaning is whole bodies moving in, like this." Merlin gulped. "Leaning involves wanting...and accepting. Leaning—"

"Hey, Merls." They turned to see Gwaine standing in a throng of partyers with a paper hat on. "Is this guy bothering you?"

"No, no." Merlin blushed.

"Are you sure? ´Cause it looks like he´s leaning." Gwaine scowled at Arthur.

"Thank you. See?" Arthur said. He was still in Merlin's personal space and Merlin didn't really mind.

"I´ll be right over here if you need me." Gwaine called.

"Okay. Thank you very much." Merlin called, not looking away from Arthur's eyes.

"I know karate." Gwaine threatened before wandering off.

"Okay. Now—" Arthur started.

"All right. What about the other thing?"

"The other thing? The other misunderstanding?"

"Why did you think I got your sister pregnant?"

"Well, Mordred said that she had heard something like that."

" And you believed him?" Merlin scowled. Arthur realized that Merlin was suddenly man but he didn't understand why.

"I didn´t have any reason not to believe him." Arthur defended.

"So the only reason your sister would want to marry someone like me is if she was pregnant, right?" Merlin growled and Arthur suddenly realized why Merlin was angry.

"No, no." He tried to fix it.

"Good night." Merlin snapped, pushing Arthur away and opening up the door and storming up the stairs.

"Fact is, you´re not really Morgana´s type." Arthur said, following him in.

"Yeah, Arthur? All right, whose type am I?" Merlin turned halfway up the stairs, hands on his hips.

" Look, it´s a great idea, you and Morgana. It´s just not obvious to the whole world, that´s all."

"You know what, Arthur? I´ve had a really lousy Christmas. You´ve just managed to kill my New Year´s. If you come back on Easter, you can burn down my apartment." Merlin snapped turning to go.

"Hey, come on, Merlin." Arthur grabbed his wrist. Merlin turned, angrily.

"What do you want from me, Arthur?"

"I want you not to be unhappy."

"And what are you, the happiness guru, Arthur? Are you happy? Because I don´t remember you having had a conversation with your father. I mean, you do want to leave the business, don´t you, or is this just like another miscommunication that we are having here?" Merlin snarled viciously. This right here is what reminded Arthur of his sister. He imaged that Merlin and Morgana had horrible fights. Then again, if he and Merlin were together they would be horrible too. No. He had to stop thinking about Merlin like that.

"What do you know about my family?" Arthur snarled back. "Spending a week with them does not make you an expert."

"Spending a lifetime with them hasn´t made you one either."

"Yeah, well, I know that keeping your family happy gets complicated. Would your father be happy knowing you´re sitting in a token booth, planning vacations that you aren´t taking?" Arthur immediately regretted his low blow.

"No, he wouldn´t. You´re right." Merlin sniffed, wiping his eyes on his one of his giant sweaters that Arthur had now realized were Merlin's dad's. "But you have no idea what it´s like to be alone." Merlin sniffled, opening the door.

"Hey, you have Morgana." Arthur reached forward and squeezed Merlin's wrist gently, trying to show how sorry he was.

"I don´t have anybody." Merlin whimpered. Cries of 'Happy New Year!' echoed from outside and within the halls. "Good night." Merlin whispered, sliding into his apartment. Merlin shucked off his clothes until he was in his dad's sweater and his boxers and he grabbed Kilgharrah and curled up on his bed, crying.

XXX

"Uther, they called me and told me to get down here. What happened?" Uther asked, rushing through the hospital halls.

"She´s awake!" Uther laughed.

"Oh, that—Oh." Merlin turned to go but Uther grabbed his arm and pulled him into Morgana's room.

"Boy, will he be glad to see you." Elsie whispered.

"Yeah." All Merlin could do was smile and stand with the Pendragons.

"Morgana? Morgana. Your family´s here, Morgana." The doctor said. Morgana looked around at all of her family members and when her gaze landed on Merlin she paused.

"Wh-Who are you?"

"My god." Merlin winced. "She´s got amnesia." Morgana's eyes rolled up and she fainted.

XXX

"Lacunar amnesia is a condition in which memory loss is localized and patchy, limited to isolated events." The doctor droned.

" Selective amnesia?" Uther grumbled.

"Um, I´m sorry. You—" Merlin turned towards them. " I need to tell you something that is really important. Morgana and I were never—"

"Pregnant?" Ygraine chuckled.

"Huh?"

"We know. Arthur called us." Ygraine patted Merlin's back. Merlin's heart ached at the thought of Arthur.

"Arthur."

"Hey. So she´s come out of it, huh?" Gaius said, sidling up to Merlin.

"Oh, I´m so glad you´re here." Merlin groaned, rubbing his face, tiredly. The doctor showed up to tell them that Morgana was awake again, just as Arthur stumbled out of the elevator.

"Hey, Arthur, I am so glad you´re here." Ygraine murmured, wrapping her arm around he son's waist. Arthur looked around and saw Merlin staring at Gaius in horror. He wanted to go ask but he was ushered into his sister's room.

"Gaius!" Merlin screeched as soon as the Pendragons were gone.

"Now, listen. Let me handle it. I´m too old a friend and too old a person for them to kill. I'll take care of it, all right?"

" Okay." Merlin nodded.

"And I´ll do it right now."

"Okay. Come on. Let´s go."

"Right behind you." Merlin sighed and stumbled into Morgana's room.

"Hey, you remember him?" Ygraine asked as Merlin straightened, looking back to see that Gaius was gone.

"Should I?" Morgana frowned.

"Look closely."

"She looks a little familiar. Why?"

"I think it´s coming back." Ygraine smiled.

"I think so." Mordred smiled.

"What´s coming back? Tell me. Tell me. What?"

" You have amnesia."

"I do?" Morgana looked appropriately horrified.

"Morgana, you´re engaged" Arthur announced.

"To who?"

"To Merlin." Arthur smiled.

"Merlin? Who´s Merlin?" Morgana was starting to panic. She started pulling at her long black hair.

"You don´t remember, do you?" Uther asked. Morgana shook her head, scared.

"Excuse me." A nurse came in. "Got some Jell-O for you today."

"Do I like Jell-O?" Morgana turned towards her mother.

" Yum!" Ygraine smiled,

"I think she´s had enough excitement for one evening." The nurse shooed them out.

"Hang in there, champ."

"Good night, honey."

"Good night, Mom, Dad."

"All right, we´ll be back. Arthur, you too. Come on. Let´s go home." Ygraine grabbed her son and he frowned, looking back as they headed towards the exit. He saw Merlin corner Gaius and wondered what was going on.

"Gaius, where have you been?"

"What, I´m not allowed to go to the bathroom?" Gaius asked, raising his eyebrow of doom.

"Gaius!" Merlin stamped his foot.

"I´m handling it. I will tell them."

"Wen? When? On my golden anniversary?" Merlin scowled and stomped off.

"Merlin, I´ll tell them!" he called after him.

"You´d better tell them!" Merlin called back.

"I said I´d tell them!"

XXX

Merlin opened his door in the middle of the night to see Arthur standing there, looking like an absolute mess. A half hour had them sitting on Merlin's couch with Kilgharrah and sipping cocoa.

"Arthur, you´ve been really great this week." Merlin said sadly.

"Yeah, like, uh, when l accused you of lying to everybody. Or when l accused you of having a relationship with Gwaine. Or when l thought you knocked up my sister and I announced it to all your friends?" Arthur challenged.

"You´ve had a really busy week this week, haven´t you?" Merlin laughed. "Look, Arthur, I, um— Starting tomorrow, uh, things...are probably gonna be kind of different."

"Yeah." Arthur sighed, thinking that this was Merlin trying to keep Arthur at a distance.

"I just wanted you to know that you´ve become, uh, a really good friend." Merlin blushed and rubbed his neck awkwardly.

"Okay." Arthur wished they could be more than friends. "Good friend." He whispered. "Merlin,"

"Yeah?"

"I didn´t mean, uh, what I said about you and Morgana. I think you two are gonna make a really terrific couple, and, uh, I´m really glad that you won´t be alone anymore." Arthur got up, sliding the grumpy cat to the couch.

"Good-bye." Merlin sighed.

"Bye." Arthur couldn't resist leaning in and pressing a soft kiss to Merlin's forehead.

XXX

"Arthur, is that you?" Uther asked, not looking up from the obituaries.

"Hey, Pop." Arthur walked in and kissed his father's forehead. " Brought you some doughnuts."

"You´re a savior." Uther beamed. "Your mother´s got me eatin´ these fat-free bran muffins." He gestured to his hardly touched breakfast. "They taste like plywood." Arthur laughed

"Catchin´ up?" Arthur asked, looking at the paper.

"Yeah, it´s been almost a week since I read the obituaries. You know, we missed a lot of good stuff the day after Christmas."

"Been a hell of a week, hasn´t it?" Arthur sighed.

"Life is a pain in the ass. I´ll tell ya. You know?" Uther grumbled. "You work hard, try to provide for the family, and then, for one minute, everything´s good. Everyone´s well. Everyone´s happy. In—In that one minute, you have peace."

"Pop, this isn´t that minute."

" What do you mean?" Uther looked at him suspiciously.

"You remember that rocking chair I made for Grandma?"

"Are you kidding me? It´s so fancy, she won´t even sit in it." Uther laughed.

"This fancy chair, two months ago I sold three just like it. I´ve sold two dining tables. I got orders for six more."

"That´s a good side business." Uther nodded looking back at the paper.

"This is not a side business. This is... good business." Arthur said pointedly. Uther looked up, shocked.

"Wait a second. You don´t want my business?"

" No, I don´t."

" How long have you felt this way?"

"A long time."

"Well, why didn´t you say something sooner? I could´ve sold the whole damn thing to Uncle Agravaine for twice its value. I could´ve taken your mother on the cruise with Kathie Lee Gifford."

"You´re not mad at me?" Arthur blinked in shock and smiled.

"Are you nuts?" Uther laughed. "Yu are nuts! You wanna make rocking chairs! My son, the gay carpenter." He reached over and ruffled Arthur's hair.

"Oh, hey, Mrs. Fletcher finally went, huh?" Arthur smiled looking at the obituaries. "Her dining room alone has got to be worth a couple grand."

"Yeah. Well, those McMurphy boys, they were movin´ in before the deed was done. That´s their problem. They´re too pushy."

"Very pushy, yeah." Arthur agreed, pulling out a donut.

"We´ll call them next week."

"_You_´_ll_ call ´em next week." Arthur corrected.

"That´s right. I´ll call them next week." Uther smiled.

"Okay."

"Do I get a doughnut?"

XXX

The Pendragons gathered around Morgana's bed as she recited her eight grade locker combination and social security code.

"You have to remember Merlin." Mordred urged. Morgana shrugged and recited her grade point average.

" You love him. You just... don´t remember him." Ygraine sighed.

"Can I talk to Morgana alone?" Gaius asked, walking into her room.

"Everything okay, Gaius?" Uther asked.

"Senior class president, 2008" Morgana muttered.

"I just wanna talk to my goddaughter." Gaius smiled and the Pendragons filed out. Gaius sat in a chair by Morgana's bedside and smiled at her. "Morgana, I´ve known you since you were born. I´ve been to every major event in your life from Girl Scouts to well, to the day you discovered hair on your privates." Morgana blushed. "You got a good education. You´re very popular with all those friends of yours. You make a nice living. And everybody knows you´re a good-lookin´ kid. But, Morgana, you´re a putz."

"Excuse me?" Morgana gasped in shock.

"Now, look, I´m your godfather. I mean, I love ya. I couldn´t love ya any more if you were my own daughter. But the fact of the matter is you´re- Well, you´re a putz."

"Is there a point to this?" Morgana asked, hurt.

"Merlin." Morgana's brow furrowed. "Morgana, there´s something... you have to know about him. You see, he—Well—Uh—He´s—You know—He´s not only your fiancée, he´s your guardian angel. Morgana, he saved your life! Now, he´s comin´ to see you today, and I want you to do yourself a favor. I want you to look deeply into his eyes and listen with the heart of a woman who has just been given a second chance at life. And after two minutes, if you´re not madly in love with him, why, tell him you wanna break up, and you can go back to being a putz. But if in the two minutes you see what the rest of us only took seconds to see, you will propose to him this time and marry him before he has a chance to escape. Uh, before he comes, take a little time and think about...what an old putz just told ya. All right?" Gaius smiled and left.

"I haven't been attracted to a man since high school." Morgana muttered to herself.

XXX

Merlin walked into Morgana's room with the box of things the hospital orderly had given him. "Merlin! Hi." Morgana smiled, sitting up.

"Hi. Um. I came to bring you back your things." Merlin shrugged, placing the box on her hospital tray.

"Would you like a sandwich?" Morgana asked. Merlin looked at the hospital sandwiches and shuddered.

"No, no. I´m okay. Thanks. Can I get you anything?"

"I wish I had my own clothes." Morgana sighed wistfully.

"Well, I like your, um, blue pinstripe…"

"Double-breasted?" Morgana asked, thinking of one of her suits.

"Yeah." Merlin shrugged.

"Yeah, that´s my favorite too."

"Really?" Merlin smiled awkwardly.

"Yeah…Please sit down." Merlin complied gracelessly.

"I saw a picture of you, uh, when you saved the three squirrels." Merlin said after a moment of silence.

"Oh. They never call. They never write." They laughed. "That was a long time ago." Merlin nodded.

"Yeah, I guess we, we don´t get to do many heroic things as an adult, huh?"

"Oh, that´s for sure." Morgana nodded. "You do, though!" she pointed to Merlin.

"Oh, no. Jumping in front of that train was unusual." Merlin said and then winced, it sounded like he was a cruel person now.

"I don´t think I´ve done anything truly heroic in my whole life." Morgana sighed. "I chased a purse-snatcher once."

"Well, that´s something." Merlin offered.

"I pretended to pull a hamstring." Morgana admitted.

"Well, most people probably wouldn´t have chased after him in the first place. I mean, I work at the El. Believe me, I know. You give up your seat every day in the train."

" Well—" Morgana shrugged. "But that´s not heroic"

"It is to the person who sits in it." Merlin smiled. " And you always gave me something to look forward to every day, so—"

"You know, you do remind me of someone." Morgana murmured. "It´s probably you." She laughed.

XXX

"Hey, lookin´ good!" Arthur said, walking into his sister's room to see the nurse Gwen helping her into a wheelchair.

"Yeah, well, they´re movin´ me to the second floor." Morgana fixed her robes.

"Great. Mind if I drove?" Arthur asked Gwen.

"Uh, no problem. Uh, see you by the elevators." She said, moving to grab Morgana's things.

"Oh. Uh, it´s a little drafty." Morgana laughed.

"Here. I brought you some contraband." Arthur handed her a tub of ice cream and a spoon.

"Oh. Chocolate peanut butter. Thanks." She said around a mouthful of ice cream. "Hey, Merlin´s pretty terrific, isn´t he?"

"Oh, yeah." Arthur swallowed his jealousy and hurt.

" We´re engaged, you know."

"Yeah, I heard that." Arthur muttered.

"Now this I remember." Morgana pointed to her ice cream and Arthur remembered that night he had walked Merlin back to his apartment, sharing ice cream along the way. "Everything is better. Everything looks better, feels better. Even this chocolate peanut butter tastes better."

"Good. It´s fudge mint." Laughed at her.

"Whatever. I´m reborn." She laughed. Arthur frowned, wondering where the witch that was his older sister went. "If you were a priest right now, I´d confess everything to you."

"No, no, don´t confess. I´m trying to be positive right now. Just eat your ice cream." Arthur grumbled.

"I don´t even know what my secretary sent Mom and Dad for Christmas." Morgana confessed.

"It was a fruit basket. Now, look, I don´t wanna get in—"

"I´ve never been faithful to a woman. Do you think that's why I'm with a man?"

"I´m gonna leave." Arthur muttered.

"Remember the squirrels?" Morgana exhaled.

"Don´t even say it." Arthur gawped, feeling a strange sense of triumph.

"First I knocked them out of their nest with a rock."

"Morgana." Arthur gasped.

"Then I saved them."

"Eww. Did you say any of this to Merlin?" Arthur hoped that she did, knowing that it would change Merlin's perspective of her. Merlin seemed like the kind of gentle soul who would despise someone for doing such a thing.

"That was in the past. I´m making a clean start with Merlin. He is—He is—He—He—What is he?"

"I´d say that he gets under your skin as soon as you meet him. He drives you so nuts you don´t know whether to hug him or, or just really…arm wrestle him. He would go all the way to Europe just to get a stamp in his passport. I don´t know if that amounts to insanity...or just being really, really likable." Arthur sighed and then looked at Morgana in horror, hoping she was out of it enough to not notice that he had pretty much confessed his love for her fiancée.

"No, that´s not it." Morgana said after a moment's thought. "But he´s gotta be really special. He´s gotta be. And I can spend the rest of my life finding out why. I don´t have to know now. I don´t have to know tomorrow. I don´t have to know in a year or ten years. I don´t—I don´t have to—I don´t have to have all the answers today, or—" Arthur groaned and walked off without a word. "Maybe someday I´ll have a clue, but it doesn´t mean I can´t make a lifetime commitment. Does this make any sense?" Morgana asked just as Gwen approached.

"Not really, but that´s common after a head injury." Gwen said, placing the box on Morgana's lap.

"My shoes." Morgana smiled, looking at her strappy black heels.

XXX

Merlin stumbled to the hospital doors and ran into Gaius. "What´d they say?" Merlin demanded instantly

"Who?" Gaius murmured, pulling out a cigar.

"The Pendragons. Are—Are they inside?"

"You missed ´em."

" Well, what was their reaction to the news?"

"I didn´t tell ´em yet." Gaius lit the cigar and smiled around it at her.

"What do you mean, Gaius? What a—Now what about Morgana?"

"Well, I didn´t tell her either. I—"

"What? Gaius, you said you were gonna handle this."

"I´ll handle it." Gaius said, placatingly.

"This is handling it? Gaius? Listen—"

"What?" Gaius grunted.

"You´re fired." Merlin pushed around him and shoved his way into the elevator. A tall blonde woman that looked to be missing her eyebrows, stormed in after him.

"Two, please." The blonde witch demanded. Merlin flinched at her harsh tone.

" Four, please." He murmured.

XXX

Morgana was having a pleasant conversation about France with her new hospital roommate, Mithian when she looked up and saw Morgause storm in.

"Morgause!" she greeted cheerfully.

"Scumbag!" Morgause snapped in reply. Morgana blinked in shock. "You´re engaged?" Morgana nodded and smiled. "May I remind you that you proposed to me?"

"You said no. We broke up."

"No, no. I was confused. We stepped back." Morgause pouted.

"You moved to Portugal."

"Yes, well, well, I didn´t think you were going to run out and marry the first bimbo that you came across."

"Merlin´s not a bimbo." Morgana snapped.

"Merlin? Merlin who?"

"I don´t remember."

"Liar!"

"I don´t him remember proposing. I was in a coma. I have amnesia." Morgana mused.

"Amnesia? Oh, well, now that´s rich. All right, fine. I want my stuff back." Morgause shrieked.

"Fine. Then I want my stuff back." Morgana snapped.

"What stuff?" she snarled.

"Your nose." Morgause gasped and covered her nose in horror.

"You can´t take my nose back."

"I paid for it." Morgana pointed out.

"Well, then, here." Morgause grabbed her boobs. "You paid for these too."

"Oh, keep ´em. I´m a changed woman, Morgause."

"Go ahead. Go ahead and marry her, you bitch." Morgause turned on her glittery heel and stopped out.

"Holy fuck, Morgana." Mithian laughed. "Movin´ on to greener pastures."

"Yeah! You got it, pal. Morgana laughed. A few moments later Merlin and Gwen walked it. "Merlin!"

"Hi, Morgana. My god, you look really good."

"I feel really good." Morgana beamed. "You know what? Facing death makes a woman evaluate her life. And I´ve been thinkin´ about mine, and I haven´t liked what I´ve seen. I´ve seen a woman who has courtside tickets to the Bulls, a lucrative investment portfolio, an apartment on La Rue du Faubourg, Saint Honore."

"Where?" Merlin asked, confused at the sudden language change.

"Paris." Mithian squealed.

"But I´ve also seen a woman who has no one to trust. No one to want to have a son with." Merlin turned scarlet at this. "You were there when I needed someone the most. You gave me a second chance at life. Took a coma to wake me up. My family loves you. I might as well love you. Merlin James Emrys, will you marry me?" Gwen, who had been listening at the door fainted. Merlin spun on his heel and rushed to help her.

XXX

Arthur sighed to himself. He opened the door to Merlin's apartment complex dreading seeing him again. Arthur was a realist. He loved Merlin. But Merlin was going to marry Morgana. Even if Merlin was usually gay, he wasn't gay for Arthur. Arthur sighed and looked up to see Gwaine, wife beater and skinnies, per usual, flirting up a giant of a man.

"Your arms are lookin´ very big tonight." Gwaine chuckled.

"Why, thank you. I love your new cologne." The man said quietly.

"Yeah, it´s called ´Paris Guy.´ lt´s from France."

"Nice."

"How ya doin´?" Arthur laughed as he approached them.

"Hey, are you goin´ to see Merlin?" Gwaine asked.

"Yeah."

"He is the best-lookin´ babe in this building."

"Hey!" the muscle builder frowned.

"But you are the best-lookin´ babe on the third floor." Gwaine cooed. Arthur snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Oh, Gwaine."

"Oh Percy," Arthur snorted and knocked on Merlin's door while the pair made out violently on the staircase. Merlin grumbled to himself when he heard the knock on the door, thinking it was Gwaine. He had been trying on his tuxedo for the wedding.

"I don´t want any flowers from you, I am not wearing black underwear, and I definitely do not want to move in with you, Gwaine—" Merlin yelled, pulling open the door to see Arthur smiling at him. "Arthur."

"Well, I don´t have any flowers, I wouldn´t mind seeing the black underwear, but under the circumstances, I don´t think we should move in together." Arthur laughed.

"I thought you were Gwaine." Merlin admitted, blushing.

"I get that a lot." Arthur laughed.

"Do you wanna come in?"

"Yeah." Arthur entered tentatively.

"Yeah?" Merlin blushed, closing the door.

"Yeah. Wow. So that´s the wedding suit, huh?"

"Hmm?" Merlin bit his lip, embarrassed to have been caught staring at Arthur.

"The wedding tux."

"Yeah." Merlin shrugged, pulling of the coat and hanging it up. Arthur then realized that Merlin was standing there in the tux shirt, red briefs and some novelty socks with wizard hats on them. He blushed and pulled a paper wrapped gift from his jacket.

"I just wanted to give you this before all the presents started to pile up. I was droppin´ off some furniture in Little ltaly. I looked in a window, and—" he shrugged as Merlin tore the paper off.

"Florence." Merlin breathed, looking at the snow globe.

"Florence." Arthur agreed.

"Thank you. It´s really beautiful." Merlin blushed and smiled, shaking it to watch it snow on his own little Italy.

"And I wanted to say that I think that Morgana..." Merlin looked up curiously. "is a very lucky bitch."

"Thank you." Merlin laughed.

"I had to say that because you´re gonna be my brother-in-law."

"Ha, ha, ha, ha." Merlin laughed sarcastically. "Well, I guess we´ll be seeing a lot of each other then." Merlin gulped realizing what a bad idea this wedding really was.

"I better get goin´." Arthur opened the door and started down the stairs. Gwaine and Percy were gone. Arthur hoped that they had at least taken it inside.

"Hey, Arthur. Arthur!" Merlin called after him. Arthur turned quickly to look up at him.

"Yeah?"

"Can you give me any reason why I shouldn´t marry your sister?" Merlin asked, hoping that Arthur would say that he should marry him instead.

"Oh." Arthur gulped. He desperately wanted to tell Merlin that he loved him but Merlin loved Morgana. He was just getting cold feet. That's all this was. "I can´t." Merlin nodded, tears in his eyes, telling Arthur that it was the wrong answer. Before Arthur could say anything Merlin was locked back in his apartment.

XXX

Merlin stormed into Will's office and slammed a sticky note onto his desk before storming out.

"What´s this?" Will called after him.

"It´s a wedding invitation." Merlin scowled, turning back.

"Wait a minute. This is your wedding invitation."

"So?" Merlin folded his arms defensively over his chest.

"Whom are we marrying?"

"Will, Morgana Pendragon."

"The coma gal? Are you insane?"

"Yes, Will, I´m insane. Every day I go and I sit in a booth like a veal. I work every holiday. I go home to a cat. And now a rich and beautiful man has asked me to marry her, and I have said yes. Okay, okay. That makes me a raving, total lunatic." Merlin shouted, waving his arms willy nilly as he spoke.

"The wedding is tomorrow, Merlin."

"I know it´s tomorrow, Will. But you know what? I even wish it were yesterday. Because you know what? That would mean that today that l would be on my honeymoon, that I would finally have a stamp in my passport, and that it would say Italy on it!" Merlin dropped into the chair opposite Will's desk and shook as silent tears fell out of his eyes.

"What happened with her brother?"

"He didn´t want me." Merlin sobbed brokenly. "He didn't want me, Will."

XXX

Arthur stood beside his sister at the Hospital church's altar. Morgana was wearing a simple white dress with a black shawl draped over her shoulders, hiding the tubes of her IV. Arthur desperately wanted to get out of there. He did not want to see his sister marry the love of his life.

"Maybe he forgot." Uther whispered to Ygraine as the minutes ticked by and Merlin wasn't there.

"A man doesn´t forget his wedding day." Ygraine scowled.

"Maybe he´s stuck in traffic." Elsie volunteered.

"This isn´t— This looks— Does this look ridiculous?" Morgana asked, fiddling with her shawl.

" No, you look fine." Arthur grumbled, not even looking at her.

"All right. All right. Well, you got the rings?"

"Yeah, I got the rings." Arthur spat, still not looking at his older sister.

"What´s the matter with you, Arthur?" Morgana snapped, hurt.

"You suck." Arthur growled, kicking the carpeted floor.

"I suck, or the outfit sucks?" Morgana asked, hurt lacing her voice.

"It´s a toss-up." Arthur sighed.

" Oh. Here she is." Uther declared as Merlin walked in, wearing his dad's leather jacket over his tux. Ygraine gestured to him that he was still wearing it and he winced, shrugging it off and hanging it on the IV of one of the hospital patients.

"He's just a little nervous." Ygraine whispered to Uther.

"You´re not kiddin´." He chuckled.

"They're lovely." Mordred whispered as Merlin ran down the aisle and stood beside Morgana at the altar.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join—" the priest began. Merlin looked at Arthur who was looking anywhere but at him and he knew he was making a huge mistake.

"I object." He said loudly.

"Jesus." Gaius muttered loudly.

"I-I-I didn´t get to that part yet." The priest stuttered.

"I would have to object too." Arthur said and his family gasped.

"What about you?" the priest asked Morgana.

" Oh, I´m—I´m thinking." She murmured.

"What the hell is going on?" Uther demanded.

"I am in love with one your children." Merlin said, turning to face him.

"I know." Uther said, confused.

"Not that one." Merlin pointed to Morgana. "That one." He pointed to Arthur. Gasps and whispered erupted throughout the room. Merlin turned to see Morgana's hurt look and Arthur was smiling slightly.

"Arthur, what the hell did you do?" Uther gasped.

"He didn´t do anything. He didn´t do anything." Merlin whispered, biting his lip. "It was me. It was all me." He paused and looked at Elsie to make sure she wouldn't have a heart attack on them. "Um, Elsie, how you doin´? You doin´ okay?" he asked. Elsie responded by smiling and snapping a picture of him. "Um, do you remember that day at the hospital? Of course you remember that day at the hospital. Well, um, there was a little mix-up. Um, I saw Morgana get pushed onto the tracks, and, uh, I saved her life. But when I got to the hospital, they wouldn´t let me see her. So, um, the— someone told the doctor that l was her fiancée. Only, um—it´s not true. I was never engaged to Morgana."

"Why didn´t you say something?" Arthur whispered, shocked to the core. Merlin turned to him pleadingly.

"Because I didn´t know how to tell you." He whispered, tears streaming down his face. He turned back to the Pendragon clan. "We never even met until that day on the tracks. And, um, it´s just when we were in the hospital room, everything happened so fast. And I couldn´t tell you the truth. And then I didn´t wanna tell you the truth because, um, the truth was that I fell in love with you."

"You fell in love with me?" Uther gaped.

" No. No—" Merlin laughed. "Yes. All of you. I went from being all alone to being a fiancée, a daughter, a granddaughter, a brother and a friend." Merlin turned toward Morgana. "I might have saved your life on the tracks that day. But you know what? You really saved mine. You allowed me to be a part of your family, and I haven´t had that in a really long time. And I just didn´t want to let go of that. So even though it was just for a little while, I will love them always. I´m very sorry. Oh, um, and I´m very sorry about your carpet." Merlin said, walking back down the aisle as Morgause stormed in.

"What about my carpet?" Morgana called after him.

"Morgana Pendragon is engaged to me!" Morgause shrieked.

"Oh! Lord." Uther muttered.

"I object to this wedding." She declared.

"Get in line." The priest snapped.

"And I object to your objection." A brown haired man said, storming in behind Morgause.

"Who´s that?" Ygraine asked.

"Morgause´s husband." Morgana replied.

"You proposed to a married woman?" Ygraine shrieked.

"Yes. And l was in a coma when my brother makes a play for my sort of my fiancée." Morgana snapped.

"Morgana, how could you do this?" Ygraine screeched. Everyone started shouting over each other and Arthur looked up and met Merlin's eyes. Merlin pulled on his leather jacket, shrugged and disappeared out the chapel door.

XXX

Merlin opened his door to see Gwaine standing there in his usual getup. Merlin smiled and leaned against the doorframe and raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, Merls, l just wanted to say that, uh, I´m sorry things didn´t work out with that guy. And, um, you know, right now you should get in touch with the child within, and, um, explore your feminine side, and, um, you know, don´t start eatin´ cookies and cake and stuff like that, because you´ll blow up like my Aunt Roberta, you know." Merlin laughed. "And— You deserve better than that."

"So, um, how are things goin´ with, uh, Mister Third Floor?" Merlin asked.

"He´s—" Gwaine waved his hands around and then started crying.

"Oh, Gwaine. Gwaine." Merlin pulled him into his apartment, rubbing his back and letting him cry.

"Do you have any cookies?" Gwaine sobbed.

"No. But you know what? We can try on some of my ex-girlfriend's shoes."

"Okay" he sniffed.

"All right."

XXX

"Hey" Merlin turned to see Elena packing up her purse. " Last day, huh?"

"Yeah." Merlin shrugged.

"I´m sure gonna miss you." Elena squeezed Merlin into a tight hug.

"I´m gonna miss you too." Merlin echoed.

"Oh, we´ll see each other." Elena said, her tone implying violence if they didn't

"Of course." Merlin laughed.

"All right?"

"All right." Elena left and Merlin sighed, turning back to his endless feed of tokens. He sighed, listening to the familiar clink, clink, clink of train tokens. Someone dropped their token and it make a different noise, a clearer noise. Merlin didn't think too much of it, pulling it out only to find that it was a ring. He blinked at the simple gold band in shock. He looked up to see Arthur, Uther, Ygraine, Elsie, Gaius and Mordred all smiling hugely at him.

"Merlin." Arthur smiled widely and Merlin laughed. "I need to ask you a question."

"Get down on your knee. It´s more romantic." Elsie commanded. Merlin laughed.

"He´s proposing! Let him do it." Ygraine scowled.

"I am letting him do it." Elsie snapped back.

"Can I come in there, please?" Arthur asked hopefully.

"I can´t." Merlin shook his head. Arthur winced, fearing a refusal. "Not without a token." Arthur smiled, relieved and dropped a token into the bin. Merlin let him through, biting his lip as Arthur entered the booth.

"He´s doin´ it!" Ygraine squealed as Arthur placed his hands on the window besides Merlin's head and leaned in.

"Marry me?" he asked, biting his lip.

"Yeah." Merlin smiled, pulling him in for a kiss. It was perfect and everything either of them could hope for. "I love you." Merlin smiled when he pulled back.

"I love you back." Arthur smiled, going in for another kiss.

So, Merlin had planned to marry Morgana, but he married Arthur instead. Thank goodness his father was right. Life doesn´t always turn out the way you plan. But Arthur, Arthur gave Merlin the perfect gift: a stamp in his passport. He took Merlin to Florence for their honeymoon. I guess you might say he gave him the world. Morgana once asked Merlin when it was that he fell in love with Arthur, and he told her, "It was while you were sleeping."


End file.
